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DUKE UNIVERSITY 
| LIBRARY 


WORKS BY 
DOCTOR MOORE 


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1. A 


pos. : adi 


wesGiPleES OF CHRIST 


OR 


THE PRINCIPLES AND AIMS OF A 


RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT 
NEWLY STATED AND CRITICALLY EXAMINED 


By W. T. MOORE, M. A., LL. D., 

Dean Emeritus of the Missouri Bible College; Lecturer on the Bible, 
Ethics and Journalism in Christian College; Eleven years 
Editor of the ‘‘Christian Quarterly’’ and twenty- 
one years Editor of the ‘‘Christian 
Commonwealth,’’ London, 

England, etc., etc. 


Veritas, a quocungue dicitur, a Deo est. 


CHICAGO: 
THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY COMPANY 
358 Dearborn Street 
1906 ~ 


( PRESS OF 
E, W. STEPHENS PUBLISHING CoQ. 
COLUMBIA, Mo. 


PREFACE. 


The origin of this volume may be briefly stated 
as follows: ‘The author was requested by the 
officers of the Christian Church, at Columbia, 
Missouri, to deliver a course of lectures before 
that Church on the Plea of the Disciples of 
Christ. These lectures were prepared for that 
special purpose, but afterwards were delivered at 
several other places, where they were received 
with much enthusiasm, and in some instances they 
were heartily commended for publication. They 
are now given to the public exactly as they were 
first delivered, except in a few places where they 
have been expanded somewhat by the introduction 
of new matter. In no essential characteristic, 
however, have they been changed. 

This fact will explain certain peculiarities of 
style which otherwise might pot be understood. 
The aim of the author was to adapt the lectures as_ 
far as possible to a popular audience, and he has 
thought best to preserve that style in their book 
form, even at the expense of a certain literary 
dress which he would personally have preferred; 
consequently, while the lectures are somewhat crit- 
ical in places, it has been the aim of the author to 
bring them as far as possible within easy range of 
the people generally. 

It is believed that there is need for such a vol- 
ume as is now given to the public. The author 
values very highly the numerous statements of the 

Vv 


} 


Me PREFAOER. 


Plea of the Disciples which have been made in the 
past. Many of these are excellent, so far as they 
go; and for the times for which they were intended 
they are all that could be desired. But we have 
reached a new day. The religious world has 
moved up higher than it was even ten years ago. 
The great “Interchurch Conference on Federa- 
tion,” recently held in New York City, perhaps 
could not have been held at any cther period in 
the history of the Church. While that conference 
did not aim to accomplish Christian union, it really 
did more than was expected of it. It was 
the first distinctly clear, ringing note to give ut- 
terance to a predominant feeling which has for 
sometime been working its way to the surface, 
viz., that the days of sectarianism are numbered, 
and that henceforth the union of God’s people 
must be the watchword throughout the whole of 
Christendom. 

Let it be distinctly understood that the Disci- 
ples of Christ have had much to do in bringing 
about this state of things. For nearly a century they 
have been’ pleading for Christian union, and they 
have been pleading for it on the only ground which 
can be occupied by all Christians, and that would 
make a union permanent as well as desirable. The 
mission of the Disciples has been, in my opinion, 
providential. While they have augmented their 
own numbers by sn almost phenomenal increase, 
this result of their movement has perhaps been the 
least important of the things they have actually 
accomplished. Their ‘influence upon other reli- 
gious bodies has doubtless been the most valuable 


PREFACE. VII 


part of their work. The whole of religious so- 
ciety has felt the influence of their Plea, and this 
influence is now showing itself in the Christian 
union sentiment which prevails to a large extent 
throughout the Christian world. It is probable 
that the source of this influence may not be rec- 
ognized by others, and even the Disciples them- 
selves may not fully understand how much they 
have really done in producing the state of 
things which now exists; but, all the same, their 
movement was the most influential factor, during 
the nineteenth century, in bringing about the re- 
ligious condition which now prevails at the be- 
ginning of the twentieth century. 

But all the work is not yet accomplished. 
Much still remains to be done. While the spirit 
of sectarianism has been largely cast out, the old 
ugly form still survives. The future work of the 
Disciples of Christ is not only to overthrow Sec- 
tarianism in all its forms, but to bring about a 
union of all God’s people on the one foundation of 
Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself be- 
ing the chief cornerstone. In the following pages 
I have attempted to show how this may be done. 

It may be well to say a word concerning the 
title of the book. Some object to being called 
“Disciples of Christ.” They prefer to be called 
“Christians.” But this gnat-straining does injus- 
tice to the great Plea represented in this volume. 
' The followers of Christ were first of all called 
Disciples, then Believers, Brethren, Children of 
God, Saints, and Jast of all Christians. Any of 
these names, however, are Scriptural, and there- 


VIII PRHEFAOH®. 


fore proper as designations of the people of God; 
but no one of them should be appropriated to the 
exclusion of any other Scriptural name. 

The author has used the name—Disciples of 
Christ—because of historical convenience, not be- 
cause he prefers it to other Scriptural names; 
though as a matter of fact, Alexander Campbell 
advocated the name “Disciples of Christ” in pref- 
erence to that of Christians on Scciptural and rea- 
sonable grounds. 

In that recent and masterful work of Prof. Har- 
nack, entitled the “Expansion of Christianity in 
the First Three Centuries,” the first chapter of 
Volume II, opens with a luminous discussion of 
“The Names of the Christian Believers,” in which 
he shows that various names were used by the 
early Christians for the purpose of representing 
certain respective view-points from which these 
Christians were considered. 

The religious people, known as Disciples of 
Christ, or Christians, have always repudiated any 
and all human names, and they have also refused 
to adopt even a Scriptural name that practically 
excludes any other Scriptural name. At their great 
convention, held in St. Louis, in 1904, a committee 
reported in favor of the “Church of Christ” as the 
official name of the body; but this part of the re- 
port was stricken cut by an overwhelming major- 
ity, because it seemed to imply that other Script- 
ural names are not proper. 

According to Prof. Harnack, the title—“the 
Church of God”—(ekklesia tou theou)—was al- 
most universally adopted, during the second cen- 


PRHFAOL {x 


tury, to designate the collective body, while the 
term “Christian” was commonly used as the name 
for individual members of the Church. This was 
an easy transition from the earlier practice, and 
especially so as the first title had Apostolic author- 
ity for its use. “Church of God” is undoubtedly 
the prevailing title in the New Testament, and if 
certain sticklers for a particular name would honor 
their own Plea for the inductive method in the in- 
terpretation of the Scriptures, it seems reasonable 
that they should adopt the title “Church of God,” 
instead of “Church of Christ.” But the wise thing 
to do is to retain all Scriptural titles, and then 
there is no difficulty whatever concerning the mat- 
ter of names. 

The present volume is unique in one respect at 
least. While stating fairly, and in a somewhat 
comprehensive manner, the principles and aims of 
the Disciples, the author has not hesitated to crit- 
icise where he believed criticism was necessary. Of 
course he is personally wholly responsible for 
these criticisms; but he cannot help believing that 
the candid way in which he has treated the move- 
ment will commend itself to all other religious 
bodies, and will generally be approved by Disci- 
ples themselves. At the same time he is vastly 
more anxious to speak simply the truth than to 
receive the commendation of either Disciples or 
any other religious people. Veritas nihil veretur, 
nist abscondi. 

W. T. Moors, 

Columbia, Missouri, January 1, 1906, 


THE PLEA OF THE DISCIPLES OF 
CHRIST COMPREHENSIVELY | 
CONSIDERED. 


PART I. 


WHAT IS THE PLEA WHICH THE DISCI- 
PLES OF CHRIST MAKE? 


This question has been answered again and 
again by some of the ablest writers and speakers 
among us. ach one of these contributions has 
been of considerable value in giving to the world 
. the genesis, principles and aims of the movement; 
and taken altogether they furnish a most valuable 
record for the historian of the future to set forth 
the things that are most assuredly believed and 
taught among us. While freely and joyfully con- 
ceding this much, it is believed that there is still 
room for a new and more comprehensive statement 
of our principles and aims. While it is not pro- 
posed, in the Lectures which are to follow, to treat’ 
the whole subject exhaustively, I am fully per- 
suaded that there is great need for a somewhat 
new definition of our Plea; and consequently I 
will proceed at once to inquire what are its dis- 
tinctive features, when it is considered from a 
comprehensive point of view? 

I. It gives a true conception of the Bible. I 
begin with this because it is properly the begin- 
ning. From the human view-point we cannot un- 
derstand religious things at all except through a 
Divine revelation. This fact has been accepted 
from the beginning of our movement as absolutely 
fundamental, without which it would be impossible 

i 1 


2 THE DISCIPLES OF OHRIST. 


for our Plea to have any vital religious signifi- 
cance whatever. Consequently the fathers of our 
movement were careful to emphasize the great 
value of the Bible as a revelation from God con- 
cerning His will; and to this earnest, persistent 
and uncompromising contention much of our suc- 
cess may be properly ascribed. 

In the early days of the movement, nothing, 
perhaps, was more frequently heard from our pul- 
pits than the statement that “the Bible and the 
Bible alone is a sufficient rule of faith and prac- 
tice.” In other words, that “all Scripture, given 
by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine, 
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in 
righteousness, that the man of God may be per- 
fect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 

Just here it is well to notice a false conception, 
concerning this contention, which has sometimes 
had considerable currency among those whose zeal 
has been greater than their knowledge. I refer 
to an unnecessarily limited meaning of the state- 
ment to which reference has just been made. When 
it is said the Bible alone is a sufficient rule of 
faith and practice, it is not meant that no other 
source of information may be used in helping 
either our faith or our practice. The statement 
referred to, when properly understood, is simply 
the antithesis of humanisms thrust upon the re- 
ligion of Christ. It is practically a protest against 
human creeds as rules of faith and practice in our 
religious life. It was never intended by any in- 
telligent interpretation of this dictum to exclude 
the lights of nature, or any other lights which 
might supplement legitimately the revelation 
which God has made through his Word. The best 
thinkers, among the Disciples, have always con- 
tended that Revelation and Nature are co-ordi- 
nates, and that therefore religion and science are 
handmaidens, and must not be separated in any 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 3 


comprehensive treatment of our religious move- 
ment. The Bible and the Bible alone cry was a 
necessary voice in the wilderness of human creeds 
saying, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his 
paths straight. It was not a narrow, proscriptive 
edict, which meant to anathematize the laboratory 
and exalt the theological seminary; but it was 
rather an intimation to both to keep within their 
proper respective spheres, and thereby co-ordinate 
their influence in the great work of enlightening 
the world and securing the salvation of souls. 

However, it is well to give this statement con- 
cerning the Bible a most prominent place in our 
religious movement. The celebrated “Declaration 
and Address,” made by the Campbells in 1809, 
affirmed, in effect, that, where the Bible speaks 
we should speak, and where the Bible is silent we 
should be silent; and this is still as true as it was 
when it was first made. if it is interpreted in its 
true, contextual meaning. We certainly have no 
right to add to or take from what the Word of 
God has enjoined with respect to our holy reli- 
gion. This is precisely what the Campbells 
‘meant, and when thus understood, this dictum 
ought to be written in letters of gold over the 
per ipit of every church throughout the entire 
world. 

However, it is undeniably true that this dictum 
of the Campbells has been greatly abused by per- 
'verting it from its original meaning. The Camp- 
bells meant it to apply mainly to principles, but 
jsome have regarded it as equally applicable to 
‘methods; and, consequently, they have demanded 
\that no methods in Church work shall be used 
'which are not divinely authorized by either pre- 
cept or example. These strict constructionists 
have found this dictum of the Campbells a sword 
‘that cuts to pieces all missionary societies, as well 
‘as all other “innovations,” as they are called. 


| 


4 THE DISOIPLES OF OHRIST. 


They say where the Scriptures are silent we should 
be silent also, and as the Scriptures are silent with 
respect to missionary societies, etc., they must be 
regarded as innovations and without any warrant 
in the Word of God. Now this sword has two 
edges, and therefore cuts both ways. I have no- 
ticed that those who use this sword to cut to pieces 
missionary societies, actually do more speaking 
than anybody else. They are never silent con- 
cerning the matter of their contention, although 
they say the Scriptures are silent, and, therefore, 
according to their interpretation of the dictum in 
question, they should be silent also. But they 
are noisy sometimes beyond endurance, and, con- 
sequently, they provoke others to speak where they 
would gladly be silent. 

All this nonsense is easily disposed of if we 
remember that the dictum of the Campbells was 
intended to apply simply to principles, and not 
to ways and means by which these principles may 
be made effective. 

I would be the first to defend any brother in 
the exercise of his right to preach the Gospel, or 
to assist in preaching the Gospel, without belong- 
ing to any particular missionary society in exist- 
ence; but while I would defend him in his right 
to choose the means by which he will work in the 
salvation of souls, I cannot defend him when he 
opposes those who seek their own methods for 
doing this work when these methods involve the 
organization of missionary societies. But much 
less can I defend him if he makes his opposition 
to some particular method a reason for neglecting 
his duty to send the Gospel to the lost by any 
method whatever. As long as he is doing his best 
to carry the Gospel into all the world and preach 
it to every creature, I will be profoundly silent as 
regards the method he uses, provided it is in har- 
mony with the principles and spirit of the religion 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 5 


of Christ; and this harmony may be determined 
very largely by the following statement, viz.: No 
method is likely to be wrong which makes abund- 
ant sacrifice to carry the Gospel to the heathen, 
mhile no method can be right which withholds the 
Gospel from the heathen, and at the same time 
complains of those who are doing the work which 
needs to be done. The command, to go, is impera- 
tive, and must be obeyed, though the method of 
this going is not determined in the Scriptures, 
while concerning the command to stay at home and 
complain of those who do go, the Scriptures are 
as silent as the grave. 

But the plea for the Bible and the Bible alone 
expresses only a part of the Disciple contention 
as regards the Bible, and it is far from being the 
most important part. The religious movement of 
the Disciples has given a new meaning to the Bible 
through a scientific interpretation of that book. 
Nothing distinguished Alexander Campbell’s ad- 
vocacy more than his earnest plea for a rational 
interpretation of the Bible. No one has ever op- 
posed more vehemently than he did the dogmatic 
and mystic methods of treating the Word of God. 
His whole system of hermeneutics is based upon 
the dictum that the Bible is an intelligent revela- 
tion of God, and can therefore be understood 
when properly treated by a legitimate method of 
interpretation. He contended with a vigor almost 
transcendent that all that the Bible needs, in or- 
der that its light may shine as the noonday sun, 
is fair and legitimate treatment in its interpreta- 
tion. While defending this view he did not hesi- 
tate to meet the infidel Owen, the Roman Catholic 
Percell, the Presbyterian Rice, and many others 
in public debate wherein Mr. Campbell’s centen- 
tion was vigorously maintained in a manner sel- 
dom equaled and perhaps never excelled in the 
art of theological polemics. 


6 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


In looking over these great debates the reader 
of the present day must be especially struck with 
the fact that Mr. Campbell’s superiority consisted 
largely in this very point of view of considering . 
the Bible as a book capable of a rational inter- 
pretation. His was mainly the inductive method. 
His hermeneutics censisted chiefly in letting the 
Bible tell its own story in the simplest possible 
manner. He believed that Scripture should be 
used in the interpretation of Scripture, and conse- 
quently when all the passages of any particular 
class were carefully brought together they would 
infallibly give us the particular truth concerning 
that class, just as is the case with respect to the 
inductive method when applied to nature. 

Do we inquire what is the boiling point of wa- 
ter? The answer of course must come from an 
induction of particular cases. First of all we 
must remember that the thing to be demonstrated 
is the boiling point of water, not oil, nor any other 
fluid. Now when several experiments have been 
made at different points, the results of these ex- 
periments are brought together; and when all the 
circumstances are taken into the aceccount, as to 
difference of atmospheric pressure, ete., the con- 
clusion is reached that, at the sea level, water will 
boil when exposed to heat of 212 degrees Fah- 
renheit. 

Similarly we may determine any fact of the 
Bible under consideration. Let us take as an il- 
lustration the meaning of es, in Acts 2:38. I 
select this passage because it has been a battle- 
ground almost from the very beginning of our 
religious movement to the present time. 

Now how can the meaning of eis be determined 
with absolute certainty as regards this passage? 
We wust consider the whole phrase in which eis 
is found. We find this same phrase, viz., “For the 
remission of sins,’ in only three other places in 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? Lf 


all the Bible. Let us bring these four cases to- 
gether. The Greek in each case is precisely the 
same, Viz., eis aphesin hamartioon; and the trans- 
lation is the same for all the passages, viz., “For 
the remission of sins.” Now does eis have a ret- 
rospective or prospective signification? Does it 
compel us to interpret the passage in Acts 2:38 
to mean “because of” the remission of sins, or in 
“order to” the remission of sins? The answer 
will come as soon as we can determine the result 
of our induction. 

John the Baptist was the first to use this 
phrase, and the record of its use is found in Mark 
1:4 and Luke 3:3. In both cases it is stated that 
John came preaching the “baptism of repentance 
for the remission of sins.” Evidently John did 
not preach the baptism of repentance because the 
sins of the people were pardoned; and it is just 
as evident that he did preach the baptism of re- 
pentance in order to the pardon of their sins. 

In the only other case where the phrase occurs 
(viz., Matthew 26:28), Jesus says, “This is my 
blood of the New Testament which is shed for 
many for the remission of sins.” Now, it is im- 
possible to believe that Jesus shed his blood be- 
cause the sins of the people were already par- 
doned. 

Taking these cases altogether, with the one in 
Acts 2:38, certainly the conclusion is inevitable 
that the phrase, “For the remission of sins,” 
means in order to the remission of sins; and con- 
sequently ezs has a prospective signification, mun- 
ing the conclusion obsolutely certain that the Pen- 
tecostians were told to repent and be baptized, not 
because their sins were already pardoned but in 
order to the remission of sins. 

This reference will show the Campbellian 
method of hermeneutics, and will also serve to 
clear away a good deal of superstition with re- 
gard to a passage which ought to be fundamental 


8 THE DISCIPLES OF OHRIST. 


when giving instructions to inquiring souls who 
are seeking to know what to do to be saved. 

Another illustration of this method of interpre- 
tation may. be helpful at this point. The Disciples 
have always treated the different cases of conver- 
sion, recorded in the New Testament, in the spirit 
of this inductive method of reasoning. In an- 
swering the question, ““What must the sinner do to 
be saved?” they have not been satisfied with a 
reply which is limited to one or two passages of 
Scripture, which perhaps has little or no relevancy 
to the question under consideration. They have 
always been careful to select the Scriptures which 
are specially designed to deal with the question 
of the kind under consideration. They have con- 
tended that we must not chronologically go on the 
other side of the great commission which Christ 
gave to his Apostles before his ascension to the 
Father. Indeed, they have regarded all cases of 
salvation prior to the giving of this great com- 
mission as special, and without any particular 
relevancy with regard to the general rule which 
Christ gave to his Apostles, after his resurrection 
from the dead. 

But they have not been satisfied to even quote 
this commission; for a rule may be interpreted in 
different ways, by different persons, under differ- 
ent circumstances; consequently, they have insisted 
upon the interpretation given to the commission, 
as illustrated in the various cases of conversion 
recorded in the book of Acts, as the Holy Spirit’s 
interpretation of the commission, given in exam- 
ples under the Apostolic ministry. By quoting 
all these cases, and by taking imto consideration 
the circumstances of each case, they reach the gen- 
eral conclusion that faith, repentance, confession, 
and baptism, are the conditions, on the human 
side in order to salvation. ‘These conditions are 
not all named in every case, but where they are 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 9 


not named, they are clearly implied, when all the 
special circumstances are taken into the account. 
In the boiling of water it is seen that the cir- 
cumstances are of great importance. When the 
observation is taken on a high mountain, the dif- 
ference in the pressure of the atmosphere must 
be considered before we can make this observation 
correspond with the one which we take at the sea 
level. But when this difference is accounted for, 
the two observations will completely harmonize, 
and both teach the same fact. viz., that water 
boils when exposed to a heat of 212 degrees 
Fahrenheit. 

Now when the different circumstances are 
taken into account with respect to Peter’s answer 
to the Pentecostians, Paul’s answer to the Philip- 
pian jailer, the answer of Philip to the Ethiopian 
eunuch and Ananias’s answer to Saul of Tarsus, 
these answers will all thoroughly harmonize with 
one another, and when taken altogether they will 
clearly teach that the Holy Spirit’s interpretation 
of the commission is that it included all the con- 
ditions which are mentioned in the cases of con- 
version recorded in the book of Acts. 

In this way we have, in the examples solved un- 
der the rule, a clear exposition of what the rule 
means, and consequently Disciples have contended 
that, in order to make no mistakes about what the 
great commission teaches, it is absolutely necessary 
to consult Apostolic practice in applying this 
commission to the great work of saving souls. 
Consequently, Disciples have contended that, by 
using this inductive method, and by making exam- 
ple the explanation of precept, it is quite possible 
to arrive at infallible certainty as regards the 
conditions of the Gospel in order to salvation. 

But this is not all our reformatory movement 
has done in giving a right conception of the Bible. 
From the beginning we have taught that the Bible 


10 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


is a progressive revelation, and that therefore 
dispensational truth is most important. We have 
to reckon with the Patriarchal dispensation, the 
Jewish dispensation, and the Christian dispensa- 
tion. We must, therefore, study the Bible from 
the point of view of each of these dispensations. 
What was intended for the Patriarch may or may 
not be binding upon the Christian; what was in- 
intended for the Jew may or may not be binding 
upon the Christian; but what was intended for 
the Christian is undoubtedly binding upon him no 
matter what may have been the ways or means for 
the government of men under the other dispensa- 
tions. 

In the light of this progressive development, a 
thousand things become intelligible in the teach- 
ing of the Bible which otherwise would remain 
in confusion, if not in Egyptian darkness. I have 
not time to illustrate this point, but it has always 
been fundamental in the teaching of the Disciples, 
and is, in my opinion, one of the most valuable 
contributions our movement has made to Biblical 
interpretation. And I do not think I am mistaken 
when I say that our movement is largely respon- 
sible for this great contribution. Doubtless other 
teachers have more or less referred to this same 
distinction, but no one has emphasized it and 
given it the important place which the Disciples 
have done in dealing with the Word of God; con- 
sequently it will readily be seen that the Disciple 
movement has reaily given a new and important 
value to the revelation which God has made to us 
in His Holy Word. , 

Perhaps nothing has distinguished the herme- 
neutics of the Disciples more than their earnest 
insistence upon a proper division of the Word of 
God. They have not only emphasized the im- 
portance of dispensational truth, but they have 
constantly affirmed that the Bible, as a whole, 
must be divided so as to correspond to the different 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? Ft 


dispensations; consequenily they have not only rec- 
ognized two distinct covenants, viz., the old and 
the new, but they have sought to arrange, under 
each one of these, the various departments of the 
Bible which specially belong to each of these cov- 
enants. They have not generally gone so far as 
I would go myself, but they have made this con- 
tention of a proper division of the Word of God 
very prominent in all their discussions. I wish 
to personally express my deep conviction that 
the binding of the Old and New Testaments to- 
gether in one book, and calling that book the Bible, 
or the Word of God, and then affirming that this 
Word is a sufficient rule of faith and practice, can 
searcely be regarded as in harmony with all the 
facts of the case. Indeed, I am decidedly of the 
opinion that the binding of the two Testaments to- 
gether is the source of much confusion in the 
Christian world. Christians are not under Moses 
but under Christ; it is not their duty to preach the 
law, but to preach the Gospel; we are not bound by 
the Old Testament, but by the New; and this be- 
ing the fact, I believe it would have been much 
better for the cause of Christianity if the New 
Testament had always been published as a _ sep- 
arate book, and then Christians would have appeal- 
ed to it as their authoritative rule of faith and 
practice, rather than to the whole Bible, as is now 
very generally the case. 

It must not be understood by this contention 
that I believe the Old Testament is of no value to 
Christians. That is quite another matter. I be- 
lieve it is of very great value. But at the same 
time I believe also that this value would be better 
appreciated if the Old Testament were entirely 
separated from the New in its authoritative char- 
acter. As history, as a revelation cf God as well 
as of man, under the old dispensations, it should be 
studied with profound reverence and with the 
greatest interest; but all the same, it must not be 


12 THE DISOIPLES OF OHRIST. 


reckoned as specifically an authoritative rule of 
faith and practice for those who claim allegiance 
to the Christ. 

Certain subdivisions of the New ‘Testament, 
which the Disciples of Christ have usually made, 
should be regarded as a distinguishing feature of 
their advocacy. ‘They have insisted that the New 
Testament itself must be properly divided in order 
that its contents may be easily understood. For 
instance, the four Gospels are intended specifical- 
ly to give us the right conception of Jesus the 
Christ; the Acts of Apostles should be studied 
chiefly from the point of view of answering the 
question as to what the sinner must do in order to 
be saved; the Epistles of the Apostles are intended 
to instruct the Church, or the saved, as to what 
must be done in erder to spiritual growth and an 
abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom; 
while the book of Revelation is intended to show 
the struggles and final triumph of the people of 
God in this world. 

In short, the four Gospels tell us of Jesus the 
Christ and his commission to his chosen Apostles; 
the book of Acts tells us as to how these Apostles 
interpreted the great commission which they had 
received in proclaiming the Gospel and gathering 
the saved into the Churches; the Epistles of: the 
Apostles take up the matter of the divine life, with 
these Church members, and teach them how they 
are to be built up in faith, hope, and love; while 
the book of Revelation is a constant inspiration to 
the people of God by showing them that whatever 
their trials or persecutions may be for a time, their 
final victory is certainly assured. 

It will readily be seen, I think, that this method 
of interpreting the New Testament is not only or- 
derly, but is actually founded on the philosophy of 
the whole scheme of redemption, and consequently 
the New Testament cannot be easily understood, if 
understood at all, without giving some considera- 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 13 


tion to the specific parts to which I have called at- 
tention; and this being the case, it must be evident 
that the Disciple movement has done much for the 
religion of Christ by giving a rational interpreta- 
tion of the Bible. While their contention for the 
Bible and the Bible alone as a sufficient rule of 
faith and practice is all right as far as it goes, 
their greater and more distinctive contention from 
the beginning has been that the Bible can be un- 
derstood only by the wise and honest use of the 
scientific method of interpretation. This I regard 
as one of the most distinguishing seatures of their 
plea, without which every thing else would have 
been a failure. 

II. A True Conception of God.—This I think 
is the most fundamental characteristic of our re- 
ligious movement. A religion will always be as 
its deity is. Every thing produces after its kind. 
This law holds good in religious matters as well 
as in nature. It is universal in its application. 
This being true it necessarily follows that a re- 
ligion will take on the type of the God that is 
worshiped by those who hold to that religion. 

The religious movement of the Disciples had its 
origin partly in an effort to change the concep- 
tion of God which was prevalent at the beginning of 
the nineteenth century. This conception had been 
inherited from the apostasy which spread such 
vast ruin over the Christian world during the mid- 
dle ages. This mediaeval conception embraced at 
least three errors: 

First. That God is a great personal governor 
who sits upon a throne, apart from the present 
world, and rules his creatures by imperious and 
unchangeable laws. 

Second. The administration of his government 
on earth is wholly committed to a specially ap- 
pointed human priesthood, who practically occupy 
the position of mediators between. God and the 
subjects of his kingdom. 


14 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


Third. The worship of this God can be accept- 
able only through forms and ceremonies, and in an 
environment which this priesthood chooses to 
create. 

Now I am fully persuaded that I have not over- 
stated the facts of the case. Of course there may 
have been other conceptions, and probably were, 
with respect to the particular points indicated; but 
no student of ecclesiastical history will doubt that 
the statements I liave made fairly represent the 
general trend of zeligious development at the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century. 

In opposition to these three predominant char- 
acteristics of the age, when our religious movement 
started, our pioneers affirmed at least three distinct 
Biblical conceptions of God. They affirmed with 
all the fervor of deep conviction the following 
Biblical statements: 

First. God is Spirit. 

Second. God is Light. 

Third. God is Love. 

With respect to the first of these, viz., that God 
is Spirit, they referred to the conversation of 
Christ with the woman of Samaria, and earnestly 
contended for the truth of the statement made by 
Christ himself in that memorable interview. He 
declared that God is Spirit, and his contention was 
that as God is Spirit, they who worship Him must 
worship Him in Spirit and in truth. In other 
words, the worship must be spiritual, and not 
merely sensuous; and then it must be a truthful 
worship, and not based upon false conceptions of 
God or anything else. 

It is well to notice the exact language of our 
Divine Lord. He does not say that God is a spirit, 
but that God is Spirit. The Greek is Pneuma Ho 
Theos. It is not personality that is affirmed of 
God, but his essence; and consequently being pure 
Spirit, he cannot dwell in particular places or tem- 
ples, for the Most High dwelleth not in houses 


° WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 15 


made with hands, as is declared in Acts 7:45; 
17:24-25; nor can he require earthly material of- 
ferings or special ceremonies, or any other man- 
made machinery, through which he may be ap- 
proached. Indeed, this affirmation of Christ was 
intended to be a protest against all limitations of 
God through an objective personality, which com- 
pelled the worshiper to think of God as only mani- 
fested in material representations. Our Lord’s 
statement is equally conclusive against image wor- 
ship and all mere forms and ceremonies, such as 
became the ruling passion with mediaeval Chris- 
tianity, some of whose evils were prominent char- 
acteristics of the Churches at the beginning of the 
nineteenth century. 

It is well to analyze somewhat carefully the 
statement made by Christ concerning God. As 
already intimated the statement does not affirm the 
personality of God, but his essence. The person- 
ality is taken for granted, while the essence is dis- 
tinctly declared. Look carefully at this phrase— 
Pneuma Ho Theos. Notice the article before 
Theos. This assumes the personality of God. No- 
tice, furthermore, that there is no article before 
Pneuma. This clearly indicates the important fact 
that God, viz., this Divine personality, is, in his 
essence, pure Spirit. This being true, he seeks 
such worshipers as will meet him in this essence. 
Nowhere else in the New Testament is there a 
stronger argument for the birth out of the Spirit, 
as indicated in the third chapter of John, than is 
found in this important statement of Christ. God’s 
personality is for the moment absorbed in his es- 
sence, and thus supreme transcendence is made to 
harmonize as well as vitalize with his providential 
immanence. Hence, he is notonly over the world and 
apart from the world, in the fact that he is in his 
_ individual personality, Ho Theos, but he is also in 
_ the world and providentially moves and helps the 
_ world, because he is essentially Pneuma or Spirit, 


16 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


Thus we have, in this sublime statement of our 
Divine Lord, both the transcendence and imma- 
nence of God clearly set forth. But in order that 
We may render acceptable worship to him we must 
be born from above, or born out of water and out 
of Spirit, thus meeting God in his essence by an 
essence of the same kind; and as we have borne the 
image of the earthy we should also bear the image 
of the heavenly. Man was created in the image of 
God, but in the fall this image was lost, or at least 
was marred, and the restoration in Christ Jesus 
makes us again like God, or fixes upon us his like- 
ness, in that’ we become spirit as he is Spirit. 
Hence, the new spiritual man who comes out of 
the new birth is the only kind of worshiper God 
seeks, or who can worship him in both spirit and 
in truth. Thus it will be seen that God, as Spirit, 
became flesh, that man, as flesh, might become 
spirit. Or to put it more in harmony with our 
modern style, God was manifested in the flesh that 
he might come down to man and touch his sym- 
pathies, awaken his dormant spiritual energies, 
and bring his spiritual nature into regnancy from 
which it fell when the animal man triumphed over ~ 
the spiritual. Surely nothing could exalt our con- 
ception of God more than this sublime fact which 
is evidently the main burden of the incarnation. 

The conception of God which our movement 
seeks to give to the world is that God is not only 
Spirit but is also Light. In 1 John 1:5 it is de- 
clared that “God is Light.” The Greek is Ho 
Theos Phoos Esti. Here again we have the person- 
ality of God taken for granted, for the article is 
used before God, as in the other ease already re- 
ferred to; but there is no article before Phoos, so 
that it is true with respect to light as with respect 
to spirit. The very essence of God is light. No 
wonder that, when his Spirit began to move upon 
the great abyss, God should have uttered that won- 
derfully sublime fiat: “Let there be light.” Light 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 17 


did not come out of nothing, as some _ have 
supposed. It was an emanation from God him- 
self, from his own essence, and on the first day of 
the renovation of the earth this light was mani- 
fested. This is still the order in the re-creation 
which is intended to restore man into the favor of 
God from which he fell through transgression. All 
turning to God must begin with the same fiat: 
“Let there be light.” 

Our religious movement emphatically affirmed 
the importance of light in order to the salvation, 
edification, and glorification of man. It was claimed 
by’ our pioneers, and is still emphasized by the 
Disciples of the present day, that the way back to 
God is not through darkness, for darkness begets 
superstition; but through light, for God is Light, 
and in him is no darkness at all. Consequently, 
if we say that we have fellowship with him and 
walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But 
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we 
have fellowship one with another, and the blood of 
JesusChrist his Son cleanseth us from all sin (see 
1 John 1:6-7). 

But the crowning revelation of God to us is the 
statement that He is Love. 

Just here we come in contact with the need of 
that dispensational truth to which I have already 
called attention. The revelation of God, that he 
is in his essence Love, was reserved for the Chris- 
tian dispensation to proclaim in its fullness or 
comprehensive impoit. Under former dispensa- 
tions God is revealed to us as a sovereign, as the 
“Lord of hosts,” “The God of battles,” ete., but 
under the Christian dispensation he is revealed to 
us as a tender, loving Father, so loving the world 
as to give his only begotten Son that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life. Under the Patriarehal and Jewish 
dispensations God was chiefly a covenant God, 
who required an exact fulfillment of all the stipu- 

2 


18 THE DISCIPLES OF ORRIST. 


lated conditions of each covenant, and offering no 

remission of sins except through a sacrificial insti- 
tution which had no permanent value, and through 
a law which was only a shadow of the better things 
to come. The Disciple movement affirms with 
great earnestness that we are no longer in the 
shadow but in the very light which came with 
Christ, who is himself the light of the world; that 
when Christ reached the zenith of his glory, the 
shadow was under his feet; that we are no longer 
under the “shalls” and “shall nots” of the Mosaic 
institution, but under Christ, where God has been 
translated into the family circle, and now reigns 
there, as well as in the kingdom over which he 
formerly reigned. 

I am satisfied that this new yet old conception of 
God, viz., that God is Spirit, God is Light, and 
God is Love was the beginning as well as the 
strength of the reaction against hyper-Calvinism, 
which ism was so prominently characteristic of the 
religious development of the eighteenth and nine- 
teenth centuries. The Disciple movement practi- 
cally based its whole contention concerning God 
upon the three affirmations which I have quoted; 
and yet strange as it may appear, this is, I be- 
lieve, the first time that any public utterance has 
ever been made that this conception of God is per- 
haps the most fundamental thing in our religious 
movement. This singular fact illustrates how 
prone the human mind is to seize apon and magni- 
fy subordinate matters to the neglect of those 
things which lie at the very foundation of the 
superstructure which we are considering. Our 
principles and aims have been frequently set forth 
by able writers, but not one of these writers has 
given any special prominence to the true concep- 
tion of God which the Disciples have everywhere 
advocated, and which has been all the way through 
their history the most distinctive and important 
contention which they have made. 


—_* 


-s 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 19 


III. A True Conception of Christ. There are 
three great facts concerning the Christ which must 
be considered before any just estimate can be made 
of his personality. These facts are: 

First. His incarnation. 

Second. His death for our sins. 

Third. His resurrection for our justification. 

No adequate understanding of his mission to the 
world is at all possible without dealing faithfully 
with these great facts. 

First. As to the Incarnation. I have already 
touched upon the incarnation in what I have been 
saying about God. Nevertheless it may be well 
to notice how this Incarnation fits in with the his- 
tory of our race. In this history there are also three 
facts brought distinctly into light. 

First, that man will not be governed by God. 
Every experiment of this kind, beginning with the 
experiment in the Garden of Eden, proved to be 
a failure. 

A second fact is equally prominent, viz., man, 
when left to himself, cannot govern himself. When 
the Israelities would not be governed by God and 
cried out for a king, God gave them a king, but 
it was not long until it became evident that they 
would not be governed by man, and this fact has 
been demonstrated again and again in the history 
of the world. 

The third fact is the union of these two facts 
in a compromise which meets in the Incarnation. 
When it was sufficiently demonstrated that man 
would not be governed by God and could not 
govern himself, God gave him a governor who is 
both God and man, viz., Immanuel: God with us; 
thus uniting the interests of Heaven and earth in 
one great personalty, who, while faithfully doing 


_the will of the Father, is at the same time touched 


ith the feeling of our infirmities, sympathizing | 
ith us in our weakness, and adding Divine help, 
so that we are enabled to do even all things 


20... THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


through him who strengthens us. 

It may be well io remark also that the possibilit 
of the Incarnation need not be a stumbling block 
for any one. Of course with God all things are 
possible, and therefore those who believe in God 
need have no difficulty in accepting the story of 
the Incarnation as it is found recorded in the New 
Testament. At the same time, it can be shown 
that, on scientific grounds, the birth of Jesus and 
the assumption of human flesh by Ho Theos, who 
is in his essence Spirit, need not stand in the way 
of any one’s faith, from a philosophical point of 
view. Perhaps the main difficulty in the minds of 
these who object to the Incarnation, on scientific 
grounds, arises from the fact that they have sep- 
arated humanity and divinity entirely too far apart 
and consequently ihey have augmented the diffi- 
culty in bridging over the chasm by which the In- 
carnation can be made reasonable. 

As a matter of fact God and man are not so far 
apart as many have supposed. The main thing that 
separates them is sin, and when this is removed 
they are really very close together. We are told 
in the Scriptures that man was created a little 
lower than God. Hence, he undoubtedly stands 
next to God among created intelligences. Angels 
are his ministering spirits, and he is to finally 
judge.these angels, thus making it distinctly evi- 
dent that he is higher in the scale of creation than 
even these Heavenly messengers. 

What is the meaning of that remarkable phrase, 
“Created in the image of God?” Does not this 
clearly indicate that, while man is differentiated 
from God, he is nevertheless like God; and conse- 
quently there is only a short step from Deity down 
to humanity? Perhaps, if we could explore this 
narrow territory, which separates God and man, 
we would understand better, from a philosophical 
and scientific point of view, the reasonableness of 
the Incarnation. At present our eyes are holden 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 21 


with respect to this unexplored division line, and 
it may be that we shall never understand it per- 
fectly until this flesh which now hinders shall have 
returned to its mother dust, and our spiritual es- 
sence shall have free course to know as even now 
we are known. In any case we must wait until 
we are bidden to come up higher. 

Second. The atonement, or reconciliation, must 
be considered in any northy conception of Christ’s 
mission to the world. “He was made sin for us 
who knew no sin, that we might be made the 
righteousness of God in him.” Around this sen- 
tence the Disciples have gathered their forces, and 
in its light have fought the battle of freedom from 
the entangling difficulties of both Socinianism and 
Calvinism. They have persistently refused to ac- 
cept either one of these extremes. While not at- 
tempting to formulate a scientific statement of the 
atonement, they have vigorously opposed the ex- 
treme statements which have been made by others, 
which statements, for the most part, either elimi- 
nate the atonement entirely or else practically 
eliminate the God of the Bible and substitute for 
him an imperious personality who orders every- 
thing according to certain decrees which he made 
before the foundation of the world. It may be 
said that the whole position of the Disciple move- 
ment concerning the work of Christ in the salva- 
tion of men can be summed up in the statement of 
the Apostle contained in Romans 5:8-12; “But 
God commendeth his own love toward us in that, 
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, 
shall we be saved from wrath through him. For 
if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to 
God through the death of his Son, much more be- 
ing reconciled, shall we be saved by his life; and 
not only so, but we also rejoice in God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now 
received the reconciliation.” 


22 THE DISOIPLES OF OHRIST. 


Without analyzing fully this important passage 
of Scripture, it is well to notice the fact that the 
Apostle distinctly separates the death of Christ 
from his life, ascribing reconciliation to the form- 
er and salvation to the latter. Indeed, this is prac- 
tically the style of the New Testament from be- 
ginning to the end. While undoubtedly it is true 
that the life of Christ gives character and potency 
to his death, this life is never specifically con- 
founded with the death, when the reconciliation is 
under consideration. 

Of course, in a certain sense, everything con- 
nected with Christ enters into his great work of re- 
demption; but this in nowise justifies us in con- 
founding things that essentially differ. Salvation 
is ascribed to faith, to the life of Christ, to calling 
on the name of the Lord, to the Grace of God, and 
to still other things. Now this fact must not be 
construed to mean that all these are not associated 
in the whole work of saving men, but only that 
each one of these has its specific place in the 
scheme of redemption, and, as such, this place 
must be kept clear of interference by other things 
that might be substituted for it. “If when we 
were enemies we were reconciled to God by the 
death of bis son,” it follows conclusively that, after 
this reconciliation has been effected through the 
death of Christ for our sins, then we shall be saved 
by his life, for the Christian’s life is not his own, 
but Christ liveth in him, and it is also true that 
his life is hid with Christ in God. 

Third. The Resurrection of Christ ts for our 
Justification. This is the crowning conception of 
his work. We must not only be reconciled to God 
by the death of his son, but we must be saved by 
his life; and our redemption must be justified be- 
fore the whole universe of God, and also Christ 
himself must be justified in what he has done for 
us; and this is effected through his resurrection, 
for God has given proof to all men that he is the 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 23 


Christ in that he has been raised from the dead. 

Just here it is important to state that the Dis- 
ciples have more than any other people emphasized 
the fact that Christ is the foundation of the 
Church, and that he is now our Prophet, Priest, 
and King. As our Prophet he is our only infalli- 
ble teacher; as our Priest he is our only interces- 
sor; as our King he is our only ruler. As our Pro- 
phet we must hear what he says; as our Priest we 
must trust implicitly in the efficacy of his interces- 
sion, for he ever liveth to make intercession for us; 
as our King we must unhesitatingly obey his com- 
mandmenis. 

It may be that other religious bodies have, to 
some extent, given prominence to the same concep- 
tion of Christ which the Disciples have set forth; 
but so far as I am informed (and I think I have 
gone carefully over the whole field of investiga- 
tion), no religious people have emphasized and 
made prominent this conception of Christ as the 
Disciples have done. From the very beginning of 
their movement they have made faith personal, 
and not doctrinal. They have insisted that to be- 
lieve in Christ with the whole heart is all that is 
necessary, so far as faith goes, in order to salva- 
tion. The great proposition that Jesus is the 
Christ the son of the living God has been funda- 
mental in their religious movement ever since it 
was first inaugurated. 

In the presence of this proposition they have 
met the enemies of truth from every point of view. 
They have met the Romanist by insisting that 
Petros is only a little stone, and is, therefore, in- 
significant, while Petra the foundation of the 
Church, is a rock with large dimensions, and im- 
movable as the eternal hills. I myself have wit- 
nessed at Caesarea Philippi both the little stone 
and the majestic rock which doubtless Christ had 
in view before his eyes at the time he made the 
great declaration recorded in the sixteenth chapter 


24 THE DISCIPLES OF OHRIST. 


of Matthew. Hence, no other foundation can any 
man lay except that which is laid, even Jesus 
Christ the son of the living God. 

As already intimated, the Disciples have earn- 
estly contended for the sufficiency of the Scriptures 
as furnishing a rule of faith and practice. But they 
do not build the Church on the Scriptures, or ac- 
cept these as having in themselves the power to 
save. They make us wise unto salvation; they 
guide us in the way of salvation; they lead us to 
him who only can save to the uttermost all who 
come to God by him; but the Church is built on 
Christ himself, who is the same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever. 

Finally, there are at least three very special 
points of view from which the Disciples have re- 
garded the great mission of Christ to the world. 

(1) As the revealer of the Father. 

(2) As the head of the Church, reigning in 
and over his people. 

(3) As the sovereign over all things, guiding 
and controlling the affairs of this world to the 
spread of his kingdom, until all the earth shall be 
subject to his authority. bs 

What Philip desired is, to some extent, the uni- 
versal desire of mankind, wherever any knowledge 
of the Father exists. We all say in some form or 
other, “Lord show us the Father, and it sufficeth 
us.” The answer to Philip by Jesus is his answer 
to us.” He still seys, “He that has seen me has 
seen the Father.” 

If there is anything that distinguishes the mis- 
sion of Christ to the world more than another it 
is this very fact that in him is a revelation of the 
Father to us. We have already seen that God is 
Spirit, and that, therefore, it is impossible for us 
to see him in his essence, for no man has seen 
Spirit at any time. But it is possible for us to 
see the Father though Jesus Christ, for he is God 
manifest in the flesh. 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 25 


I have already intimated that a religion, in its 
development, follows the conception which that re- 
ligion embodies of its author. Surely, then, it is 
of the greatest consequence that we should have a 
true conception of God, if it is desirable that the 
religion we profess should itself be a true mani- 
festation of the truth. Jesus the Christ is the em- 
bodiment of our conception of the Father, and it 
is therefore through him that we must see and un- 
derstand the religion which is intended to repre- 
sent the Father. 

Jesus the Christ is also the head of the Church, 
while the Church is declared to be his body. This 
figure emphasizes a2 very close relationship between 
Christ and his Disciples. As the members of our 
body receive all their instructions from the head, 
so the members of the Church, which is Christ’s 
body, should receive all their instructions from him 
who is the head. His will must be the final 
authority in- everything that relates to the Chris- 
tian’s faith and conduct. <A “thus saith the Lord” 
must be final as regards everything that enters in- 
to the Christian life. 

-In this respect, it is believed that no other re- 
ligious people have given such emphasis to Christ’s 
mission as have the Disciples of Christ. They 
have not only recognized Christ as the foundation 
of the Church, but they have also insisted that he 
is the head over all, and that, therefore, he is the 
source of all authority in Heaven and in earth, as 
regards the principles and practice of those who 
are his followers. 

The Disciples have also strongly accentuated 
the universal Lordship of Christ with respect to 
all the affairs of this world. They have not dog- 
matically insisted upon any particular view of 
what is called the millennium. As a body they are 
neither pre-millennialists nor post-millennialists. 
They have always allowed the widest possible lib- 
erty with respect to questions of this kind, as well 


26 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


as eschatological questions, or questions relating to 
the future life. The only point with which they are 
especially concerned is the great fact that in some 
way “all things are working together for good to 
them that love God, to them who are called accord- 
ing to his purpose.” They insist (and so strongly 
do they insist that this is practically an article of 
their faith) that some way or other the final out- 
come of tke present struggle will be the subjection 
of this world’s powers to the authority of him who 
must reign until: all enemies are finally put under 
his feet, and He shall be recognized everywhere 
as the King of kings and Lord of lords. 

IV. A True Conception of the Holy Spirit. 
There can be no doubt about the fact that when 
the Disciple movement was first inaugurated the 
religious world was under some curious delusions 
with respect to the Holy Spirit. This was doubt- 
less owing to a certain reaction from the purely 
human religious development of the Middle Ages. 
The Apostasy was a somewhat gradual growth. It 
began to work during the latter part of the Apos- 
tolic age, but its development did not reach its full 
flower until during the Middle Ages. The refor- 
mation under Luther turned the tide in the oppo- 
site direction. Slowly but certainly the reaction 
from medieval superstitions and humanisms began 
to develop toward a more rational and worthy view 
of things. 

However, this reaction had not reached a normal 
state at the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
and especially was this true as regards spiritual 
influence. The work of the Holy Spirit was more 
or less identified with all kinds of incantations and 
superstitions, until conversion, in the popular esti- 
mation, became real only when it became irration- 
al; and the Christian life, instead of being a steady 
and normal growth, was supposed to grow only 
through jerks or sporadie and spasmodic develop- 


ments. 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 27 


Nor has this state of things entirely subsided. 
Even now it is unquestionably true that what is 
called revivalism finds its main pillar of strength 
in abnormal views of the work of the Holy Spirit. 
It may be, and possibly is true, that as regards this 
matter, in getting away from Babylon, some have 
gone by Jerusalem. All history teaches that ex- 
tremes beget extremes. It would be expecting too 
much that a movement, which was intended to cor- 
rect the abuses to which attention has been called, 
should never go beyond the point of oscillation in 
the pendulum, and never rise too high on the other 
side. Progress does not move in exactly straight 
lines. Its course is always zigzag. It is from one 
extreme to another, though in the long run the 
forces of true development ascend higher and 
higher up the hill. 

Disciples of Christ have always recognized joy- 
fully and earnestly the important work of the 
Holy Spirit in the conversion and salvation of men. 
They have been misunderstood and misrepresented 
with respect to this matter; and doubtless for the 
reason that men who occupy an extreme position 
with respect to any subject are usually unwilling 
to admit that there is any middle ground that ought 
to be tolerated. The Disciples have always, in the 
main, contended tor a conservative position with 
respect to the work of the Holy Spirit. In regard 
to the baptism in Holy Spirit they have not always 
spoken in the language of the Scriptures, though 
their chief contention has been in the right direc- 
tion, viz., to teacn the Christian world that con- 
version is not necessarily attended with signs and 
miracles; that God’s power is not in the fire, the 
wind, nor the earthquake, but in the still small 
voice that speaks through the Gospel of his love, 
and through all the sympathies of the suffering 
Christ woos the sinner to the outstretched arms of 
him who is the great rest-giver and Savior of men. 

Disciples have used the phrase, “Baptism of the 


28 THE DISOIPLES OF CHRIST. 


Holy Spirit,” as though it was a legitimate and 
Scriptural phrase, and have then sought to get rid 
of this Baptism by declaring that it is always ac- 
companied by the gift of tongues, as in the case 
of Pentecost and the house of Cornelius. But this 
view of the matter is not at all necessary, if we 
stick to Scriptural phraseology. There is no such 
thing as the “Baptism of the Holy Ghost” or 
“Baptism of the Holy Spirit,” mentioned in Scrip- 
ture, nor is the idea, conveyed by that phrase, 
anywhere found in the New Testament. The Scrip-. 
tural phraseology is “Baptized in Holy Spirit,” 
and the idea conveyed by this phrase is that Holy 
Spirit is the element in which the agent performs 
the Baptism. Christ is the agent. John declared 
that he would baptize in Holy Spirit and fire. 
Consequently it is Christ that performs the bap- 
tism, and Holy Spirit is the element in which the 
subject is baptized. 

The fact that the article in the Greek is not used 
before Hagion Pneuma is very suggestive, and 
this suggestiveness becomes almost overwhelming 
when, by a careful induction of cases, it is found 
that the article is never used when reference is to 
operations, gifts or manifestations of the Spirit 
in men; nor when the Spirit is regarded subjective- 
ly.. In such cases, it would seem that the Divine 
writers intended to suppress, for the moment, the 
personality of the Spirit and to regard only the 
Spirit in its essence. When the Holy Spirit is 
spoken of as itself, or is regarded objectively, then 
the Greek is To Hagion Pneuma, the article al- 
ways being supplied. 

Now a habit of language, so remarkable as this, 
cannot be regarded as accidental. It must mean 
something very specific, and I think the meaning 
clearly is, that in all subjective uses of the Holy 
Spirit: reference is made to Spirit as an element, 
or as essence, and that for the time being the per- 
sonality of Spirit is distinctly suppressed in order 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 29 


to make the indwelling of Holy Spirit a thinkable 
reality. With this idea before us it is not dif- 
ficult to understand Paul’s statement to the Cor- 
inthians when he says that in one Spirit were they 
all baptized into one body. 

It is probable that some theologians have over- 
done the personality of the Holy Spirit. No 
doubt the personality of the Spirit is distinctly re- 
vealed, and when used as the Scriptures use it, this 
personality must be unhesitatingly affirmed. But 
it ought to be remembered that the word “person” 
or “personality” is never used in the Scriptures 
with respect to the Holy Spirit; and as we have al- 
ready seen, the definite article is very frequently 
suppressed, for the purpose, as I have already in- 
dicated, of giving emphasis to the Holy Spirit in 
esse, we certainly have a Scriptural warrant for 
not placing too much emphasis upon what has been 
called the personality of the Holy Spirit. It 
should also be remembered that the word “person,” 
when applied to the Holy Spirit does not neces- 
sarily mean the same thing as when it is applied to 
ourselves, but simply denotes a certain distinction 
which we think the word properly expresses. Of 
course our idea of personality is formed wholly out 
of our conception of what we are ourselves. But 
this conception may very poorly express what the . 
Scriptures teach with regard to the Holy Spirit. 

It is also an interesting fact, and somewhat sug- 
gestive at this particular point of our investiga- 
tion, that the predominant gender of the Holy 
Spirit in the Scriptures is neuter. It is not neces- 
sary to magnify this habit of the inspired writers, 
since it is well known that the Greek gender does 
not run parallel with the gender »f the English. 
Nevertheless, if it was the intention of the writers 
of the New Testament to emphasize the person- 
ality of the Holy Spirit, it is certainly very re- 
markable that they should have selected a word 
which is neuter in gender rather than one that is 


30 THE DISCIPLES OF OHRIST. 


masculine. The word ‘“‘parakleetos” is masculine, 
but this is used only by the Apostle John. 

It is also very suggestive that the exact equiva- 
lent of the New Testament phrase “To Hagion 
Pneuma,” is found only three times in the old Tes- 
tament. The Hebrew style, for the most part, is 
“The Spirit of God,’ or “My Spirit,” and not 
“The Holy Spirit, while in all cases the predomi- 
nant gender is feminine; and as there is no neuter 
gender in the Hebrew language, many of its femi- 
nines are properly rendered neuter genders in the 
English. In Gen. 1:2, the idea of “brooding” an- 
swers well to the feminine gender of Roo-ach Elo- 
him—the Spirit of God. Is all this accidental? 
Must this predominant habit of the Hebrew lan- 
guage be ignored entirely in a matter of such grave 
importance as that under consideration? I think it 
is quite probable that the modern tendency to al- 
ways speak of the Holy Spirit as a masculine gen- 
der is the foundation of much confusion in refer- 
ence to the subject of the Holy Spirit’s office and 
work. If we take into account the testimony of 
both the Old and the New Testaments it seems to 
me that the translation of the authorized version of 
the Bible is justified when it uniformly translates 
the Holy Spirit as a neuter rather than as a mas- 
culine gender. 

Of course I do not wish the Disciples of Christ, 
as a body, to be responsible for any of the criti- 
cisms which I make either upon their position or 
upon the generally accepted views of other relig- 
ious bodies. But what I have just been saying 
is legitimately involved in the Disciple contention, 
although some of their scholars and thinkers may 
not agree with me. However, it is one of the cardi- 
nal principles, of their movement to allow the ut- 
most freedom in the matter of interpretation, 
though: in the main it is rather remarkable that 
there is very little difference among Disciples as 
to the interpretation of anything that is vital in 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 31 


either of the Testaments. 

I cannot go into this whole question at the pres- 
ent, but what I have said is sufficient to make it 
evident that much of the teaching of theologians 
with respect to the Holy Spirit has had little or no 
foundation in the word of God. Modern, popular 
revivalism has its origin and inspiration largely in 
[eee of the office and work of the Holy 

irit. 

| is already intimated, Disciple teachers have not 
generally made their position entirely clear with 
regard to theoffice and workof the Holy Spirit and 
certainly not entirely satisfactory ia every respect. 
However, in the main, they have distinctly empha- 
sized the fact that the work of the Holy Spirit 
must be freed from the superstitions which have 
gathered about it and which have so often dis- 
counted the work entirely, because of the unrea- 
sonableness of the contention of those who misin- 
terpret the Scriptures regarding the Holy Spirit’s 
office. 

With respect to spiritual operations, Disci- 
ple teachers have very generally insisted upon lim- 
iting the Holy Spirit’s work to that sphere where 
co-operation with the Word of God is distinctly 
marked out. Possibly they have pressed this point 
sometimes too strongly, and for the reason that in 
our present fleshly state we can know very little 
about spiritual operations, and therefore it is per- 
haps better not to attempt to limit that which is 
probably limitless in its sphere of influence. Nev- 
ertheless, it is wise to avoid rushing into a bound- 
less ocean of darkness, where only ignorance and 
superstition are the controlling influences. We are 
never safe unless we can quotefor our religious po- 
sition a “Thus saith the Lord,” and we are never 
in danger as long as we can say with distinct em- 
phasis, “it is written.” This was the safeguard of 
our Divine Lord when the tempter sought to lead 
him astray. He met every assault of Satan with 


32 THE DISOIPLES OF CHRIST. 


the terse and emphatic saying, “it is written.” This 
with Christ was the end of all controversy, and 
while we are following his example in this regard, 
we need not be concerned even though ten thou- 
sand superstitions should be hurled at us. 

Disciples have always believed and taught that 
we are now practically under the dispensation of 
the Holy Spirit. Christ has personally ascended 
into the heavens, and he has sent the Holy Spirit 
to take his place here, to advocate his cause, to 
dwell in his church, and to make intercession for 
us with groanings which cannot be uttered. At the 
same time Disciples have clearly marked the differ- 
ence between the Holy Spirit as an agent and Holy 
Spirit indwelling the Christian, though they have 
never, so far as t know, made the argument for 
this distinction, as I have just done, by showing 
that the article in the Greek is always before Holy 
Spirit when reference is made to the agency of the 
Spirit, or to its objective relationship, and never 
before it, when reference is made to Spirit as an 
element, or when it is subjectively used. From 
the point of view I have considered the matter, the 
Disciple’s contention, that we must distinguish 
between the Holy Spirit operating in conversion 
and Holy Spirit dwelling in the Christian, is not 
only eminently intelligible, but becomes at once. 
overwhelmingly supported by every passage of 
Scripture in the Word of God where the word 
“Spirit” is used. 

V. A true-conception of man, In an important 
sense man must be the starting point with all our 
investigations. Self-consciousness is doubtless the 
first concept with which we become acquainted. We 
cannot reason about God at all until we have 
learned to reason about ourselves, nor can we know 
anything of the Divine except we rise up to this 
knowledge through the human. This is one reason 
why God was manifest in the flesh in the person 
of Jesus Christ. In our re-creation it was neces- 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 33 


sary that God should come down to us, should as- 
sume our humanity, and thus bring himself nearer 
to us, in order that we might understand him at 

Consequently, under the Christian dispensa- 
tion, at least, we can approach God only through 
the man Christ Jesus, for it is only by knowing him 
that we can know the Father. 

Just here the Christian world bas gone much 
astray in its reasoning. Many theologians formu- 
late their anthropology by theirtheology, while it is 
evident that they ought to reverse this whole pro- 
cess by studying theology through anthropology. 
Chronologically considered, man necessarily comes 
first in all our reasoning. As J have already sug- 
gested, man comes first in consciousness, and it is 
only through familiarity with ourselves that we 
ean possibly apprehend God in either his personal- 
ity or his essence. Of course we cannot compre- 
hend him, even though. we were able to compre- 
hend everything else in the universe. God is out- 
side of his universe, and yet he is in it all. He 
is independent of everything he has created, but 
he touches every part of this creation, and is the 
life of everything. He is in all his works but not 
of them. He is, therefore, both immanent and 
transcendent. By him we live, move and have our 
being. 

Man is a little lewer than God, as the Psalmist 
declares, and it is this very fact that makes it nec- 
essary for us to deal with him in our conceptions 
before we can possibly rise up to God. This be- 
ing true, it is easily seen how necessary it is to 
have a true conception of man. Indeed, I believe it 
is impossible for eny one to formulate a true the- 
ology without first realizing a true anthropology. 

Now, Disciples of Christ have never troubled 
themselves with certain theories concerning the or- 
igin of man. Many of them do not know, perhaps, 
the meaning of the terms Creationism, Traducian- 
ism, and Evolutionism. They may know the mean- 

3 


34 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


ing of these words according to thedefinition in our 
dictionaries, but very few probably have ever in- 
vestigated thoroughly the controversies that have 
raged around these terms. Nor is it necessary that 
any one should possess this particular knowledge. 
It is much more to the point that man should be 
understood as to what he really zs than to speculate 
as regards his origin. In studying man as he is, it is 
all-important that we should have a clearly de- 
fined psychology. But it is probably not absolutely 
essential that we should begin our psychology by 
regarding man as composed of body, soul, and 
spirit, though this is undoubtedly the New Testa- 
ment division. But we may contend for a dicho- 
tomy which really embraces a trichotomy; but cer- 
tainly for the sake of clearness of statement, com- 
prehensiveness, and more especially for the sake of 
a scriptural style, we ought to contend for the di- 
vision which the Apostle Paul particularly empha- 
sizes in his letter to the Thessalonians, where he 
prays God that the spirit, soul, and body may be 
preserved blameless to the coming cf our Lord Je- 
sus Christ. Now, I believe it is a fact that the 
Disciples, from the beginning of their movement, 
have been generally trichotomists, and have there- 
fore contended for a scriptural style, as respects 
the threefold nature of man, as well as for a script- 
ural style with respect to other things. They have 
insisted on the fact that where the Scriptures speak 
we must speak, and where they are silent we must 
be silent. 

But the main points for which Disciples have 
contended have been at least three: 

(1) Man’s absolute need of a Divine revelation. 
They have contended that man has not only lost 
the true image of God, but that he is now incapable 
of restoring that image without Divine help, and 
that this help must necessarily come to him through 
a revelation, for this is the only way that such help 
can come as will, at the same time, honor both 


' WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 35 


God and man. Man has eyes to see, ears to hear, 
and has a heart to feel; and consequently he must 
be addressed through his eyes, ears and feelings in 
order that he may be influenced without violating 
the very constitutien of his being, and consequently 
this influence can be exerted in no way without 
such a revelation as God has given to him. 

The particular thing, with respect to this matter, 
which Disciples have emphasized, is the ability of 
man to understand and accept the revelation which 
God has made. They have recognized the. scriptu- 
ral doctrine that man is dead in trespasses and in 
sins, but they have repudiated the notion that what 
the Scriptures mean by this statement is that man 
is so dead that he cannot see, hear or believe. They 
have always recognized the fact that man has 
fallen from his first estate;that he is, indeed, with- 
out God and without hope in the world; and, fur- 
thermore, that he is utterly incapable of returning 
to God without the very help which God offers him 
in the revelation which has been made; but that, 
with this revelation, he can and ought to turn to 
God and accept the terms of salvation by which he 
may be saved. 

It has always been claimed that any other view 
of anthropology dishonors both God and man, and 
is clearly contrary to the teaching of the Script- 
ures which everywhere assumes that man is capable 
of hearing, believing, and obeying the Gospel, 
without any extra influence, and consequently this 
very fact emphasizes immensely the responsibilty 
of man to do what God has commanded him to 
do with respect to salvation. 

(2) Disciples have always maintained with 
vigor the notion of the freedom of the will or that 
man is a free agent, and consequently a free agent 
with respect to his conduct. They have held that 
in no other way can man’s responsibility be dis- 
tinctly affirmed. He is either responsible for his 
conduct, or he is not; if he is not, then all the ap- 


36 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


peals made to him in the Scriptures are practically 
in vain, for if man is not free to choose for him- 
self what he will do in any given case, then it is 
impossible, in the very nature of things, to hold 
him responsible for the doing, whether it be good 
or evil. Consequently the freedom of the will is 
fundamental in every thing involved in the conten- 
tion of the Disciples. Indeed, so prominent is this 
fact, in both their anthropology and theology, that 
any surrender of ic. or any compromise with respect 
to it, must be regarded as vitally affecting the 
whole plea for which they contend. If man is an 
automaton, acting only as he is acted upon, then 
their whole advocacy is a mistake; but if he is a 
free agent and can, therefore, accept or reject the 
message which God has sent to him, then the plea 
of the Disciples, with respect to salvation, becomes 
at once intelligible, and at the same time accounts 
largely for their marvelous success in winning 
souls to Christ. 

Nor are they in the slightest degree troubled by 
what some imagine legitimately follows from the 
nature of their anthropology. Some suppose that 
the doctrine of free agency, as contended for by 
the Disciples, takes the glory away from God and 
gives it to man himself. But surely this does not 
follow. 

Let us suppose two cases: Let us suppose, in the 
first place, that man is a mere machine. He has 
no power to act for himself in spiritual things. He 
is a mere Jack in the box and can act only when 
the strings are pulled to give him motion. Now he 
is acted upon by an zrresistibilis Gratia, or an ir- 
resistible force, without which he cannot possibly 
be saved. Does the salvation of this machine hon- 
or God? 

Take another case: Man is created in the image 
of God. He has placed before him good and evil. 
He has the ability to choose. He chooses the evil 
and falls. But God does not leave him entirely to 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 37 


his folly. He follows him with his love. He sends 
his son to redeem him. A plan of salvation is pro- 
vided in harmony with man’s condition. The Gos- 
pel message is adapted to man as he is. It is pro- 
claimed for man’s hearing, belief and obedience. 
Man can hear, can believe, can ovey. All this he 
does, and is made io rejoice in the hope of the glo- 
ry of God. Now which of these cases honors God 
the more? It seems to me that no one can fail 
to see that the case wherein God adapts his Gospel 
to the man whom he has created, but who has gone 
astray, honors God vastly more thaa any scheme of 
salvation which practically compels man, nolens, 
volens, to be saved simply because the Creator re- 
ally forces his salvation. 

It may be that these illustrations put. the matter 
rather strongly, but, after all, they deal with it 
from a practical point of view precisely as it is. 

(3) Disciples Lave always taught that every 
man is not only responsible for his own salvation, 
so far as theprivilege of choosing is concerned, but 
that every saved man isalso responsible forthe sal- 
vation of every other man, so far as it lies in the 
power of each individual to contribute to the sal- 
vation of the world. Herein is their main starting 
point in the advocacy of missions. In the begin- 
ning of their movement, they were chiefly occupied 
in building up Churches at home, because they be- 
lieved that this was the first thing necesary in order 
to the conquest of the world. But at the psycho- 
logical momentthey began the work of foreign mis- 
sions, and nothing has accentuated this work more 
than the conception of man which they have in- 
sisted upon from the beginning of their movement 
to the present time. The result of their advocacy 
of foreign missions has already commanded the ad- 
miration of other religious bodies, and has perhaps 
astonished the Disciples themselves in view of their 
marvelous success. As yet, they have not fully re- 
alized the responsibility which rests upon them in 


38 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


view of tke noble conception of man which they 
have advocated, and which is such a potent in- 
fluence in bringing victory to their banners. 

The anthropology of the Disciples recognizes the 
true idea of Evolution, viz., that all progress, at 
certain stages, must be reinforced from above or 
else there can be no real forward movement. It 
is a fact which no one who is competent to judge 
will attempt to deny that the mineral kingdom 
cannot advance beyond its own borders until the 
vegetable kingdom comes down and appropriates 
it and carries it over the barrier which separates 
it from the vegetable. Nor can the vegetable ad- 
vance to the animal of its own strength. The an- 
imal must come down to the vegetable and by ap- 
propriation carry the latter above its own limita- 
tions. The same is true of the animal. It can 
never rise to the spiritual until the latter comes 
down and lifts it over the line which bounds the 
animal. 

Now it cannot be doubted that this fact lays 
heavy responsibilities upon spiritual men or Chris- 
tians for it clearly suggests that the heathen world 
cannot be saved by any law known to us, unless 
spiritual men shall go down to these animal men, 
and by the Gospel of God’s grace help them to step 
over the line whicn now separates them from those 
who have been born from above. It is not, there- 
fore, a question of God’s willingness to save the 
heathen without the Gospel and the help of Chris- 
tians, but it is rather a question of His power to 
save them, however anxious he may be te do so; 
and unless he deals with them by some law un- 
known to either science or religion, it really seems 
impossible for Him to save them except through 
the instrumentality of spiritual men who must go 
down after them with the Gospel and bring them 
up to the spiritual sphere. Foreign missions are 
therefore a necessary expedient inorder to the con- 
version of the world, and from the Disciple point 


WHAT IS THEIR PLHA? 39 


of view these missions are as scientific as they are 
scriptural, for the Disciple anthropology makes no 
demands upon our faith which are not sustained by 
every well-authenticated fact of science as well as 
religion. 

It is scarcely necessary to intimate a single cau- 
tion with respect to the anthropology of the Disci- 
ples. It is not intended by anything that has been 
said to affirm that the Disciples are the only re- 
ligious people who teach substantially the concep- 
tion of man as set forth in the foregoing consid- 
erations. But it is affirmed with emphasis that no 
other religious people have made this conception 
of man so vastly important in the salvation of the 
world as have the Disciples of Christ. 

VI. A true conception of the gospel. Speak- 
ing broadly, it is not too much to say that after 
the Apostasy had fully begun, and prior to the 
inauguration of the Disciple moyement, no specific 
Gospel message was preached at all, unless in very 
exceptional cases. Almost everything else was 
preached; but the Gospel as a definite, loving mes- 
sage was seldom if ever proclaimed at the begin- 
ning of the Disciple movement. Whatever would 
help to support the proclaimer’s special religious 
views, or “doctrines,” as these were usually called, 
or whatever would excite the emotional nature and 
move men to accept these doctrines, as expressing 
the way of life and salvation, were earnestly an- 
nounced and vigorously maintained from nearly all 
the pulpits of the land. 

It was, therefore, practically a new revelation 
when the people were told that doctrines could not 
save, that these doctrines were divisive in their ten- 
dency, and in the end disastrous to the unity of 
Christians and unfruitful in the development of 
the Christian life. It was equally a startling rev- 
elation when it was announced that the Gospel it- 
self is a distinctly specific, well-defined message, 
which in its comprehensive import includes facts, 


40 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


commands, and promises; factsto be believed, com- 
mands to be obeyed, promises to be enjoyed. The 
specific facts are the death of Christ for our sins 
according to the Scriptures, his burial, and his res- 
urrection the third day according to the Scriptures. 
The specific commands, included in the Gospel 
message, are to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ 
with all the heart, to repent or to turn away from 
sin, and then to manifest this faith and repentance 
in an overt act of obedience, by being baptized in- 
to the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

The facts of the Gospel, of course, must be re- 
garded as fundamental. Without the death of 
Christ for our sins, according to the Scriptures, 
there could really be no Gospel preached. The 
Disciples did not stop to formulate a distinct phi- 
losophy of Christ’s death, or the atonement, but 
they did insist upon the fact of his death as fun- 
damental in the Gospel message, with an earnest- 
ness which has seldom been equalled, and per- 
haps never excelled. They have always been will- 
ing for men to formulate any philosophical view 
of the atonement that might best satisfy them- 
selves, provided always the Scriptural statement — 
that he “died for our sins” shall not be robbed 
of its unmistakable content. As to why he died 
for our sins, or as to how his death satisfied the 
conditions of the case, etc., they have never at- 
tempted to settle with definite certainty. They 
have always believea that these deep things belong 
to God, and they have left them without attempt- 
ing any speculative explanation, such as should be © 
in any sense an article of faith. 

They have treated the other facts of the Gospel 
in precisely the same way. Every man is left free 
to accept any philosophy with respect to these 
facts he may choose, provided always that his ex- 
planation does not necessarily destroy the facts 
themselves. 

The commands of the Gospel have been treated 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 41 


in very much the same way. No philosophy of 
faith has been formulated for the acceptance of 
any one. Every thinker has been left entirely free 
with respect to the philosophy of faith. The only 
thing required of kim is that he shall believe that 
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. 
Even the content of this great proposition has been 
left where the Scriptures leave it. It may be, and 
most~ probably is a fact, that differences exist 
among Disciples as to the exact meaning of this 
great proposition; but Disciples have never 
thought well to make these differences, if any do 
exist, a barrier to Christian fellowship. When a 
penitent believer confesses with his mouth the Lord 
Jesus and affirms that he believes in his heart that 
God has raised him from the dead, this is an end 
of all controversy, for this of itself is sufficient 
evidence that the candidate has a right to the or- 
dinance of baptism. 

This contention of the Disciple movement makes 
faith Christo-centric. It immediately turns the 
sinner’s attention 1o him of whom Moses and the 
prophets did write. It leaves no ground for sights 
_ and sounds, for superstitious incantations, or hyp- 
notice states of the mind or soul, such as were com- 
mon in the religious experiences at the beginning 
of the last century. When a man says that he be- 
lieves with all his heart that Jesus is the Christ, 
the Son of the living God, this all-embracing con- 
fession is accepted everywhere among Disciples as 
sufficient, so far as faith goes, in order to salva- 
tion. As already intimated, it turns the mind away 
from mere human expedients and doubtful philos- 
ophies to him who is the foundation of the Church, 
as well as the inspiration and vital force of every- 
thing that belongs to the faith. 

With Disciples there could be no Gospel mes- 
sage that did not in some way rest upon and pro- 
ceed from Christ Jesus our Lord. Hence, faith 
in him and obedierce to his commandments must 


42 THH DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


be regarded as the only conditions of membership 
in the Church of Christ, and therefore the only 
conditions of fellowship among the followers of 
Christ. With them the terms of fellowship are 
precisely equal to the terms of membership in the 
Church. 

Equally important has been the Disciple conten- 
tion with regard to repentance. They have, from 
the very beginning, distinguished between true re- 
pentance and what has been practically little short 
of penance. In the religious experience of the 
Protestant Churches, to say nothing of the Roman 
Catholics, expedients are introduced which prac- 
tically vitiate the atonement; but Disciples have 
repudiated the idea that the sinner can propitiate 
God by a long agony of. soul, no matter how in- 
tense that agony may be. Christ is our propiti- 
atory sacrifice. Whatever obstacle there may have 
been in the way of the sinner’s return to God, 
from the point of view of the law, that obstacle 
has been removed by the death of Christ for our 
sins according to the Scriptures, and consequently 
now the mission of the preacher of the Gospel is 
to urge the sinner to be reconciled to God, and 
not to propitiate God so that he will be reconciled 
to the sinner. God is both willing and anxious to 
save the sinner, and Christ’s death has made it 
possible for God to be just and at the same time 
the justifier of him who believes in Jesus; and 
consequently the sinner need not agonize a mo- 
ment with the view of securing the favor of God, 
but the thing for him to do is to repent and be 
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the re- 
mission of sins, and he shall receive the gift of 
the Holy Spirit, and this should be done without 
delay; even the same day or the same hour of the 
night he may be added to the Church, if he will 
gladly receive the truth and do what the Holy 
Spirit commands. 

This brings us to the question of baptism, con- 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 43 


cerning which the Disciple movement has precipi- 
tated very generally a vigorous and persistent con- 
troversy. This controversy has raged perhaps 
equally around the action, subject, and design of 
baptism, or, in other words as to what baptism is, 
for whom it is intended, and what is its signifi- 
cance. 

In discussing these three different aspects of 
baptism, the aim of the Disciples has been to 
stick closely to the Scriptures. They have con- 
tended earnestly for the unmistakable meaning of 
the Greek word baptizo, as well as the general 
trend of Scriptural precept and example, in order 
to settle the question as to what baptism really 
is; and when all the facts are taken into account, 
they have reached the conclusion that the baptism 
which Jesus commanded and which his inspired 
Apostles everywhere practiced, is an immersion in 
water into the name of the Father, Son and Holy 
Spirit. 

They have also contended that this baptism 
should be administered only to those who are peni- 
tent believers, and that therefore infant baptism, 
to use the language of Martin Luther, “cannot 
- be proved by the sacred Scriptures, or that it was 
instituted by Christ, or begun by the first Chris- 
tians after the Apostles.” 

Perhaps the bitterest controversy, with respect 
to baptism, which the Disciple movement precipi- 
tated, has been that which arises out of their views 
concerning the design of baptism, or what baptism 
is for. ‘They have been content to simply quote 
the Scriptures on this subject, and leave the mat- 
ter where the Scriptures leave it. But when their 
religious neighbors have tried to fasten upon them 
the dogma of baptismal regeneration, Disciples 
have not hesitated to show that their religious 
neighbors are precisely the persons who practical- 
ly teach the dogma to which objection is made. 
The very fact that Disciples everywhere insist up- 


44 THE DISCIPLES OF OHRIST. 


on both faith and repentance, before baptism is of 
any value whatever, ought to shield them from the 
charge of holding to the dogma of baptismal re- 
generation; for if regeneration is the work of the 
Holy Spirit, as most of the Protestant Churches 
affirm, then when the sinner believes and repents 
his regeneration is already effected, and conse- 
quently Disciples cannot be justly charged with 
administering baptism in order to regeneration, 
since this regeneration must take place before 
baptism, if baptism is administered to only peni- 
tent believers. 

However, the case is very different with those 
who administer baptism before there is any exer- 
cise of faith or repentance whatever on the part 
of the subjects. If any body is justly chargea- 
ble with holding to the dogma of baptismal re- 
generation it is surely not the Disciples, but those 
Churches which practice infant baptism; and this 
view is emphasized from the fact that the notion 
of baptismal regeneration was undoubtedly that 
which originated infant baptism, as all Church 
history abundantly proves. 

It is true that Disciples have very generally as- 
sociated baptism and the remissions of sins, but 
they have done this because the Scriptures evi- 
dently join them together, and consequently it is 
believed that what God has joined together no 
man should put asunder. Disciples do not teach, 
they never did teach that baptism procures remis- 
sion of sins. They teach that the blood of Christ, 
and this alone washes away sin, and consequently 
this blood is the procuring cause of our salvation; 
but Disciples regard baptism, to use the language 
of logic, as simply the occasion of the remissien of 
sins. To illustrate what I mean, I may say that 
the cause of the loud explosion in a gun is not 
simply the pulling of the trigger. This pulling 
of the trigger is the last apparent cause or occa- 
sion of the explosion. There are numerous other 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 45 


things that are antecedent to the pulling of the 
trigger, and that are absolutely essential before 
the explosion can take place. smote these ante- 
cedents may be mentioned the quality of the pow- 
der, the form of the gun barrel, the proper ar- 
rangement of the percussion cap and powder, the 
existence of a surrounding atmosphere, etc., etc. 
Any of these conditions being absent the loud re- 
port of the gun might not have occurred. 

Now there must be the proper antecedents of 
baptism, such as the blood of Christ, faith, re- 
pentance, etc., etc., before baptism itself can be 
worth anything whatever. _ But when these ante- 
cedents exist, then baptism is the occasion, or to 
use the figure already introduced in the case of 
the gun, baptism is the trigger which when pulled 
brings into active exercise the efficient causes which 
are essential to salvation. 

A failure to distinguish between things that es- 
sentially differ, and yet are necessarily combined 
in the whole scheme of redemption, has produced 
endless confusion in the Christian world, and has 
led many honest persons to believe that the Disci- 
ple view of the design of baptism is open to grave 
objection because it seems to make baptism an ef- 
ficient cause of salvation rather than the occasion 
by which salvation is realized through the efficient 
causes which lie back of it, and without which 
baptism is worth nothing whatever. A little at- 
tention to the rules of logic might help to a 
clear understanding with respect to a matter, the 
importance of which can scarcely be overestimated. 

VII. The true conception of the Church. The 
Disciple movement has done much to put the 
Church in its right attitude. During the Middle 
Ages the Church practically became almost every- 
thing, while religion amounted to very little. In 
the beginning of the nineteenth century the dif- 
ference between a Church and a religion was 
very dimly seen, if seen at all, by even a major- 


46 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


ity of Protestants; and yet, the distinction between 
these is of the very greatest importance. A 
splendid ideal for a Chureh may be a very poor 
ideal for a religion. The Roman Catholic Church 
has a magnificent ecclesiasticism which really eclip- 
ses all other religious organizations, but we are ac- 
customed to think that its realization of religion is 
far from what it ought to be. 

However, as a matter of fact, most men judge 
a religion by the Church which assumes to repre- 
sent that religion; but this is beginning at the 
wrong end of the line. We should judge and crit- 
icize the Church through the religion rather than 
the religion through the Church. A Church is only 
valuable so far as it fitly represents the religion 
of Christ. That religion must be regarded as 
paramount, and all of our estimates with regard 
to a particular Church must be made through that 
religion rather than to judge of the religion 
through any Church, no matter what its claims 
may be. 

Another distinction, almost equally important, 
has been insisted upon by the Disciples of Christ. 
They have persistently refused to confound the 
officers of a Church with the Church itself. With 
them the Church is fundamental. It may exist 
without any offices at all. Indeed, we do not find 
any deacons in the primitive Churches until we 
come to the sixth chapter of Acts, and no elders 
or bishops until we come to the eleventh chapter 
of Acts. Evidently officers must be regarded as 
only an expedient; an expedient doubtless of great 
value, so far as the efficiency of the Church is con- 
cerned, but an expedient nevertheless, which must 
never be regarded as a necessity, for the Church 
is not dependent upon the officers, but the officers 
upon the Church. The officers are for a_ special 
purpose, and this purpose is clearly set forth in 
the fourth chapter of Ephesians, and is as follows: 

1. For the perfecting of the Saints, or for the 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 47 


growth, culture and development of the members. 

2. For the work of the ministry, or for preach- 
ing and serving. 

3. For the edifying of the body of Christ, or 
the building up of the Church in faith, hope, and 
love. 

This being the comprehensive purpose of the offi- 
cers of the Churecn it will be seen that their dis- 
tinetive place and mission relate to work rather 
than authority, and that anything like an ecclesi- 
asticism, such as is represented by the Roman 
Catholic Church and some Protestant Churches, 
is not even hinted at in the New Testament Scrip- 
tures. Indeed, the statement concerning officers in 
Ephesians clearly indicates that these officers were 
not only an expedient, but also a temporary ex- 
pedient; they are to serve for a time to be de- 
termined by the fact of “all coming in the unity 
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of 
God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stat- 
ure of the fullness of Christ.” Consequently it 
- is evident that official position in the Church is 
simply to meet certain important conditions till the 
Church is able by unity, strength and co-operation 
of all the members to make “Increase of the body 
into the edifying of itself in love.” 

It is not difficult to see from these premises that 
entirely too much has been made of what is called 
Church organization. While no such term is any- 
where to be found in the Bible, this term has fur- 
nished the ground for many of the divisions which 
now disgrace the map of Christendom. From the 
very beginning of their movement Disciples have 
emphasized the fact that the Church should be re- 
garded as a family rather than as an ecclesiastical 
organization. Indeed, many of their ablest writ- 
ers have distinguished sharply between the Church 
and the Kingdom, the latter being much more com- 
prehensive than the former, embracing as it does 
the whole area of Christ’s mediatorial reign, while 


48 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


the former embraces simply those who have been 
called out, and separated into a family, where they 
are God’s children in a special sense, and where as 
such they are brethren. This is the ideal of the 
Church set forth in the New Testament, and this 
is what the Disciple movement would have the 
Christian world thoroughly realize. 

Another distinguishing characteristic of the New 
Testament Church has been very strongly empha- 
sized from the beginning of our religious move- 
ment, viz., that the Church has no earthly priest- 
hood separate from its own membership. In a cer- 
tain sense all the members of the Church are 
priests, and these constitute a spiritual priesthood 
as distinguished from the priesthood which belong- 
ed to the Jewish institution. Christ himself was 
never actually a priest while on earth. It was only 
after his ascension that he became a Priest for- 
- ever after the order of Melchizedek. Sacerdotal- 
ism, as it is known in ecclesiastical history, has 
been, from the very beginning of their movement 
to the present time utterly repudiated by Disciples 
of Christ. The third Epistle of Peter, published 
by Mr. Campbell in The Christian Baptist, sound- 
ed the keynote of the movement with respect to ar- 
rogant assumptions of the clergy. This Epistle 
perhaps did injustice to some of the clergy existing 
at that time; but there can be no doubt about the 
fact that Mr. Campbell was striking at a great pre- 
vailing evil, and though he may have overdrawn 
the picture somewhat, it is unquestionably true that 
nothing perhaps has done more to hinder the prog- 
ress of Christianity in the world than the spirit of 
the clergy which was vividly portrayed in this third 
Epistle of Peter. The ministry of our Christian 
Churches would do well to study this Epistle very 
carefully at the present time, for unless I am 
greatly mistaken in the signs of the times, I see the 
shadow of a domineering clergy arising in certain © 
quarters in the beginning of this twentieth century. - 


WHAT IS THHIR PLEA? 49 


If we generalize the New Testament Church, 
for which the Disciples have always contended, at 
least three distinct characteristics come into view: 

(1) Its Universality. 

(2) Its Spirituality. 

(3) Its Oneness. 

The Gospel message is essentially ecumenical. 
It was to be carried into all the world and preached 
to every creature. This fact gives us the true 
standpoint from which to study the catholicity of 
the New Testament Church. Count Tolstoi is per- 
haps not right in all his teaching, but he is not far 
wrong when he ascribes to patriotism nearly all 
the evils of our modern civilization. He thinks 
that we do things in the name of patriotism, which 
is only another name for selfishness and unbrother- 
liness, and these cannot possibly be justified from 
the Christian point of view. 

Now, whether Tolstoi is right or wrong, it is evi- 
dently true that Christianity contemplates a uni- 
versal brotherhood, a divine-human family, where 
the boundary lines of nations are no longer re- 
garded, but where in every nation he that feareth 
God and worketh righteousness is accepted of God. 

A second characteristic of the New Testament 
Church is Spirituality. There is no distinction in 
the New Testament more sharply drawn or more 
constantly insisted upon than that between flesh 
and spirit. Everywhere the members of Christ’s 
body are declared to be Spiritual, born from above, 
and are built up “a Spiritual house, a Holy priest- 
hood, to offer up Spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to 
God by Jesus Christ.” This conception of the 
Church does not now occupy the important place it 
once did; at least it is not now emphasized as it 
was in the days of the Apostles. Nevertheless, I 
feel confident that Christian union is an impossible 
thing unless we first have real Christians with 
which to form that union. But real Christians are 
not such, simply because their fathers and mothers 

4 


50 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


were Christians; nor does residence in a particular 
territory determine Church membership. What is 
needed is a thoroughly converted membership, men 
and women who are new creations in Christ Jesus, 
and with whom old things have passed away, and 
all things have become new. In short, there must 
be a birth from above before it is possible to have 
the Divine life below; and this spiritual conception 
of the Church must be insisted upon everywhere if 
we expect Christians to become anything more than 
a merely organized socialism with little else in it 
than that which contributes to the gratification of 
the flesh. 

The third characteristic, viz., Oneness, is also 
very important. Disciples have not always distin- 
guished sharply between Christian Unity, and 
Christian Union, but they have most earnestly con- 
tended for both. However, this distinction is 
clearly made in the New Testament, and ought to 
be insisted upon in all our advocacy. Unity is a 
Divine gift; Union a human expedient. We can- 
not create oneness or unity of the spirit, but we 
may “endeavor to keep” it. Union is the legitimate 
outcome of unity. Probably the chief difficulty in 
effecting Christian union is in the fact that there 
is too little Christian unity out of which this union 
can come. Christiana union presupposes the existence 
of actual Christians, who have been made one in 
Christ as he and the Father are one, and then out 
of this oneness union ought to follow as effect fol- 
lows cause. But if we do not “keep the unity of 
the spirit in the bona of peace,” we cannot possibly 
have Christian union no matter what our start 
may have been. A good beginning may have a 
bad ending, though = ad beginning never did and 
never will make a good ending. 

This oneness of the Church is so emphatically 
proclaimed that the Apostle Paul, in his letter to 
the Galatians, declares that in Christ Jesus there is 
neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, 


WHAT IS THEIR PLEA? 51 


neither male nor female; for all are one in Him. 
Now whatever else this oneness may mean it cer- 
tainly does not mean those miserable, social, and 
conventional distinctions of the present day which 
are so predominant in much of our Church life. 

Just here, if I mistake not, we touch one of the 
most vital questions of our Church union problem. 
It may be that many doctrinal differences will have 
to be broken down before we can realize our union 
ideal; but, in my cpinion, the first and most im- 
portant difficulties in our way lie on the practical 
side of Christianity rather than on the doctrinal 
side. When we have ceased to hinder the fullest 
development of spiritual oneness, by refusing any 
longer to recognize in our Churches the distinction 
between Jew and Greek, bond and free, male and 
female, we shall then begin at least to realize the 
New Testament ideal of the Church in which racial 
unity, social unity, and family unity, are all prac- 
tically assured. And it is not difficult to see that, 
when this oneness is clearly manifested in our 
Churches, the probiem of either Christian union or 
Church union can be easily solved. Consequently, 
it is my firm conviction that the real obstacles with 
“which we shall have to contend are not so much 
doctrinal differences, the “historic episcopate,” or 
any other kind of episcopate, as racial distinctions, 
national boundary lines, traditional customs, the 
reign of caste, and the unworthy, ungallant, and 
unscriptural insistence that woman must occupy a 
very subordinate place in the Church. And it is 
furthermore my deep conviction that all efforts to 
realize a Christian union that would be of much 
permanent benefit will ultimately end in complete 
failure unless the practical obstacles to which I 
have called attention are effectually removed out 
of the way. 

Of course there are other things relating to the 
Church which might be mentioned, and which the 
Disciples have specially emphasized, but as I am 


52 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


aiming to consider their religious position from a 
cceaprtleee point of view aiken than from the 
view of special details, I deem it unnecessary to 
occupy attention any further with respect to their 
conception of the Church. However, enough has 
been said to show that their conception of the 
Church, in many respects, is essentially different 
from that which is held by many other religious 
bodies; and it is believed that their conception is 
not only Scriptural but is really the only one which 
can be made practicable for all the purposes for 
which the Church exists; and consequently, their 
conception of the Church is the only one that can 
possibly become efficient in bringing all the dis- 
cordant elements of Christendom into practical 
unity. 


PATE RE: 


IS THE PLEA OF THE DISCIPLES NEED- 
ED AT THE PRESENT TIME? 


Has the Disciple movement accomplished its 
purpose? Undoubtedly there are those who believe 
that it has. They are willing to concede that there 
was a great need for it when it was first inaugu- 
rated; for the religious world at that time was in 
such a state if confusion that a call to come back 
to Apostolic faith and practice was a_ necessity; 
and consequently the plea for the Bible and the Bi- 
ble alone, as a rule of faith and practice, with all 
the other elements entering into the Plea, to which 
attention has been called, was perhaps an essential 
condition to lead the Christian world out of the 
apostasy into which it had completely fallen, dur- 
ing the Middle Ages; but that now there is nospec- 

_ial reason for a distinct plea, such as the Disciples 
set forth, since most of the Protestant Churches 
are no longer in Babylon and consequently do not 
need the help of such a movement as that repre- 
sented by the Disciples of Christ. 

It is wisdom to consider very carefully whether 
this contention is well founded or uot. There can 
be no doubt about the fact that it has some cur- 
rency, even among Disciples themselves. 

Now, if what is meant by a “disappearing broth- 
erhood”’ is the union of Christians, so that all di- 
vision lines shall be broken down, and all shall 
stand together upon the one foundation of Apos- 
tles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the 
chief corner stone, then there ought to be no objec- 
tion to the disappearance of a separate Disciple 

. Brotherhood, for it would then become absorbed in 

an aggregation of Christians which would repre- 


53 


54 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


sent the New Testament Church, the very thing for 
which the Disciples have earnestly pleaded from 
the beginning of their movement. But I am far 
from believing that we have reached any such mil- 
lennial period as is indicated in this program. The 
jarring of rival sects is still heard on every hand, 
and the clashing of theological dogmas still con- 
tinues. Doubtless the bitterness of old controver- 
sies has lost some cf its intensity in the modern 
spirit, but the form of opposing sects is still very 
much in evidence. It is also true that many of the 
old dogmas have been either abandoned or else 
greatly modified during the past century, but these 
have never been repudiated by any overt act, and 
consequently the “dead hand” continues to be an 
important factor in denominational life. Histori- 
cally considered, it is certainly true that the Chris- 
tianity of the present day is not precisely what it 
was at the beginning of the nineteenth century. 
Nevertheless, it is vet far from properly represent- 
ing that splendid ideal of the Christianity of 
Christ, as this is found in the New Testament 
Scriptures. There is, therefore, still great need 
for the Plea of the Christian Church or Disciples 
of Christ, for there is still much work to be done 
before the principles and aims of the Disciples can 
be realized in the practical development of Chris- 
tianity in the world. We must not mistake a cer- 
tain kind of platform union for the real thing. 
Union is in the air, but it has not yet reached the 
solid earth. 

I will now endeavor to indicate, as briefly as pos- 
sible, why the Disciple Plea is still needed, as a 
distinct factor in the religious development of the 
twentieth century. ' 

I. The Plea lends itself easily to a harmony 
with the scientific, critical and practical demands 
of the age. Let no one misunderstand me at this 
point. I have no more sympathy with scientific | 
speculations than I have with theological specula- 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? dD 


tions; nor have I any special fondness for hyper- 
criticism, whether this be called higher criticism or 
lower criticism. However, there is a real science 
and a real criticism which must be reckoned with 
by any religious plea that can command the re- 
spect of the educated classes of the present age; 
and it must not be forgotten that the educated 
classes of the present age are not only the domi- 
nant classes but are rapidly becoming the popular 
classes. The time was when educated men belonged 
to an insignificant minority. But this is the case no 
longer. With our public school system, running 
from the primary to and through the University, 
we have come to a period where there is little or no 
excuse for any one’s failure to secure an education. 
Indeed, it will not be long until the uneducated 
man will be the exception, as the educated man 
was at the beginning of our religious movement. 
The times have evidently changed, and consequent- 
ly we must, to some extent, change with them. Cer- 
tainly the demands of the present age are such as 
to compel a recognition of every reasonable demand 
which education makes, and consequently no relig- 
ious movement can claim any right to exist which 
does not easily lend itself to harmony with the 
scientific, critical and practical demands of the age. 

However, we must distinguish clearly between 
science, falsely so-called, and the real thing. The 
latter has no conflict with any truthful representa- 
tion of the Christianity of Christ. Disciples have 
always been careful to sharply distinguish between 
a false science and a false Christianity. Probab- 
ly they have not paid as much attention to a genu- 
ine science as they might have done. Possibly they 
have not always been wise in their advocacy of 
what they have understood to be the Christianity 
of Christ. They lave contended with great ear- 
nestness that, in many instances, what is called 
Christianity has been substituted for Christ Him- 
self; and that this substitution has most unfavor- 


56 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


ably affected both the faith and life of the pro- 
fessed followers of Christ, while, at the same time, 
it has furnished a pretext for those outside the 
Church to remain where they are. 

The word ‘Christianity’ is not in the Bible. Nor 
is it certain that what is represented by that word, 
in the currency of modern Christian society, can 
possibly be legitimately constructed out of Bible 
teaching. Nevertheless, it is a fact which cannot 
be disputed, that it is Christianity rather than 
Christ that is on trial to-day. The question as to 
Christ’s position, so far as it is a matter of criti- 
cism, has been practically settled. Of course, infi- 
dels will not let the question rest entirely. They 
know well enough that His claims must be over- 
thrown before their cause can be regarded as safe. 
They readily perceive that Christ Himself is the 
key to the whole controversy , and consequently 
their final aim is to break the spell of His personal 
influence. But they wisely make the attack, in the 
first place, on the outposts, so to speak; upon 
Christianity as a system and a life, seeking by this 
means to clear the way for their final assault, 
which is te be aimed at Christ Himself. They do. 
not fail to notice the imperfections of historical 
Christianity. Indeed, Christians themselves can- 
not fail to observe what is palpable to every hon- 
est student of Church history. 

All along the line of progress, from the Apostol- 
ic age to the present time, Christianity and Christ 
lave frequently represented very different ideas; 
and even now they are in practical antagonism at 
many vital points. For instance, it is a fact which 
cannot be successfully denied that much of our 
modern Christianity is little beter than Judaism; 
is, indeed, a mixture of Judaism and Paganism, 
with a small portion of the teaching of Christ. 

As a proof of what I say, let it be noted that 
many modern Christians are altogether more con- 
cerned about keeping the requirements of the law 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? 5T 


than the requirements of the Gospel; more inter- 
ested in celebrating heathen feasts and customs 
than those commanded by Christ. Moses, not 
Christ, is practically the almost supreme authority 
in many portions of modern Christendom; and this 
fact, taken in connection with the divisions, strifes, 
worldly-mindedness, and constant neglect to ob- 
serve some of the plainest teachings of the New 
Testament, makes it evident that what is called 
Christianity, as it is illustrated in the Churches of 
the present day, is but a feeble representation of 
that wonderful life and character described in the 
New Testament; and yet, “he that saith he abideth 
in Him, cught himself also to walk even as He 
walked.” (I John 11 : 6). 

I have already intimated that Christ Himself is 
no longer on trial. Neither is the Word of God, 
in any real sense, seriously on trial. But our mod- 
ern Christianity is on trial. This is what we are 
practically defending against the assaults of the 
skepticism of the day. Shall we be able to triumph 
in this encounter? I fear not. Just here is the 
weakness of modern apologetics. Christ Himself 
needs no special defense, neither is the Word of 
God in any great danger. Both of these can stand 
against the most determined and most profane crit- 
icism. But modern Christianity is extremely weak. 
On every side it is open to successful opposition. 
Yet Christians think it must be defended. 

But why not change our tactics? I do not doubt 
that Christians have it in their power to make a 
splendid strategic movement against modern doubt. 
Let them surrender at once the untenable ground 
they have been striving to hold, and (speaking af- 
ter the manner of military men) let them fall back 
on the main position. Let them get back to Christ 
and His Apostles, or what is better, perhaps, let 
them go forward lo these, and then there will be 
little difficulty in cefeating the most determined 
attacks of the enemy. But as long as the defense 


58 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


is made from our weak and contradictory theolo- 
gies, or from our weaker churches, it is simply cer- 
tain that infidelity, in its various forms, will gain 
many signal triumphs. While Christians are bound 
in some way to defend the teaching of human 
creeds, or the half-hearted Church life of the pres- 
ent day, there is little or no hope that much prog- 
ress will be made in breaking the power of modern 
skepticism. But the moment these insecure posi- 
tions are given up, and a brave stend made at the 
real citadel of our faith, that moment will the hosts 
of Satan find themselves practically defeated. 

In opposing Christ to Christianity, I do not wish 
to be misunderstood. While the word “Christiani- 
ty” is not in the Bible, I do not deny that what the 
word properly implies is in the Bible. Doubtless 
it would have been well if the word had never been 
used, for it has certainly been greatly abused. 
Even when something of the system which Christ 
taught has been clearly understood, it has often 
happened that Christ himself has been overshad- 
owed by the system. But as a matter of fact the 
system haslittleprominence inthe New Testament. 
In that Christ is everything; in modern Christiani- 
ty he has, at best, only a secondary place. The 
Church and doctrines are now frequently put to 
the front. These are regarded as indispensable, 
while Christ is kept largely in the background to 
witness those who profess to follow him waste 
their energies and opportunities in endless strifes 
about that which is of little or no importance. 

Now if it be true that the New Testament makes 
little of objective Christianity, considered as a sys- 
tem, surely the elaborate systems of modern Chris- 
tendom are very much out of proportion; and this 
perversion of the true order of things is immeas- 
urably augmented when it is understood that the 
modern systems are, for the most part, perversions 
of New Testament teaching. Any candid student 
will at once be struck with the comparative small 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NHEDED? 59 


importance which the Church, as an organization, 
seems to occupy in the New Testament. It is 
there undoubtedly, but it is there in a very subor- 
dinate sense. In these days it chalienges the chief 
consideration. With many the question is no long- 
er asked, what does the Master say? But what does 
the Church say? Of course there are limitations 
to be applied when the case is put as I have put it. 
Still, it cannot be denied that my general statement 
is true. Christ’s authority may be theoretically 
recognized, but practically the Church is supreme 
in everything thai relates to faith and practice. 
Hence it will beseen that Christianity has virtually 
usurped the place of Christ, and as a consequence 
it cannot be longer defended without largely giv- 
ing up all hope that Christ himself shall conquer 
the world. Nevertheless Christ, in his own great 
personality, is the only hope of perishing men. Let 
his reign be supreme in all hearts, and then Chris- 
tianity may safely be left to take care of itself. 

Now it may not be possible to harmonize what is 
called Christianity with what is real science, but 
it is possible to harmonize Christ and his teaching 
with every thing that a genuine science demands. 
This much has always been claimed by the Dis- 
ciples of Christ; and when the diiferent elements 
ot their Plea are tested by the most rigid demands 
of science, it will be found that they contend for 
nothing which is not in harmony with every claim 
which science can legitimately make. — - 

This fact undoubtedly makes the Plea of the 
Discipies an important factor in the religious de- 
velopment of the twentieth century. We have al- 
ready seen that our educational advancement calls 
for a religion, or a presentation of religion, that 
is rational, or at least is not irrational. It is not 
possible any longer to make progress with a re- 
ligious advocacy which is supported chiefly by an 
appeal to ignorance. ‘The Disciple view of the 
Scriptures, of God, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, 


60 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


of man, of the Gospel, and of the Church, is emi- 
nently a reasonable view, and consequently may be 
easily harmonized with every sensible demand of 
science or criticism; and consequently the Disciple 
plea must necessarily fill an important place in the 
coming centuries. 

In saying this I do not mean that they are the 
only religious people whose plea is worthy of con- 
sideration. Other religious movements are distin- 
guished for. certain great principles, and for ac- 
complishing great 1esults, but I cannot help believ- 
ing that the Disciple Plea is the only one which 
covers completely the whole ground with respect to 
a possible harmony with the scientific, critical and 
practical demands of the age. 

II. The Plea furnishes a common, reasonable 
and ‘workable ground for Christian union. Dis- 
ciples have not always clearly distinguished be- 
tween Christian Unity and Christian Union. They 
have from the very beginning of their movement 
urgently contended for both; but, as has already 
been intimated, they have sometimes fallen into the 
error, which is a common one with those who write 
or speak on the subject, of confounding two very 
important things that are essentially different. 
However, in their case the failure to distinguish 
between the two has never caused them to cease 
to advocate with almost extreme earnestness the 
demolition of all division lines between those who 
are the real followers of Christ. From a critical 
point of view the language they have used may 
not have always been wisely selected, but the out- 
come of their advocacy and the earnestness with 
which they have made this advocacy have never 
been in doubt by those who have given sufficient 
attention to the matter to entitle them to form an 
authoritative opinion. 

However, it is important always to distinguish 
between things that differ. Unity is the normal 
state of Christians, and consequently, without this 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? 61 


unity we cannot have a normal Christian union. 
We might have an artificial union, but it would 
probably be of short duration, and might make 
matters worse instead of better. It is, therefore, 
most important to understand the difference be- 
tween Christian unity and Christian union. Unity 
involves similarity of structure or indentity of na- 
ture, and consequently, it supposes a mutual adap- 
tation of parts for some special and common pur- 
pose; but union is the mere joining together of two 
or more bodies in one, and implies a combining 
that is manifest; on the other hand, unity denotes 
an inyisible oneness, and may therefore exist 
without any outward manifestation of it. Webster 
says, “Union is the act of bringing two or more 
things together so as to make but one. Unity is 
a state of simple eneness, either of essence, as the 
unity of God; or action, feeling, etc., etc., as unity 
of design or affection, etc.’””’ We must also notice 
the fact that union does not establish unity, nor 
does unity necessarily involve union, though un- 
doubtedly Christian union ought to follow where 
there is Christian unity. 

The distinction J have made will enable us to 
understand the meaning of our Lord’s prayer 
when he prayed that his Disciples might be one 
as he and the Father are one. Evidently Christ 
was praying primarily for Christian unity, and 
furthermore, for a unity of a remarkable kind. He 
was praying for a oneness of his Disciples, sim- 
ilar to the oneness existing between himself and 
his Father. Now this oneness must be a divine 
work, and hence Jesus prayed to his Father to ac- 
complish this work in the Disciples. Christian 
oneness must be the work of the Holy Spirit, and 
that is doubtless what the Apostle means in his let- 
ter to the Ephesians, when he exhorts the Ephes- 
ians to “endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit 
in the bond of peace.” ‘They could not make the 
unity of the Spirit, but they could “keep it in the 


62 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


bond of peace.” The keeping of it in the bond of 
peace involves Christian union, and this is the very 
thing for which Christians themselves are respon- 
sible. We cannot create unity but we can keep this 
unity in the bonds of peace, and thereby mani-- 
fest Christian union; and in this way we may show 
our unity to the world, and thus fulfill the whole 
comprehension of our Lord’s prayer, so that the 
world will believe that he was sent of the Father. 

Now from this point of view it will be seen how 
important it is, when considering the question of 
Christian union, to have real Christians out of 
which to form that union. We might consummate 
a sort of conglomeration of Christendom, bringing 
together all the present discordant elements into 
one body, under one government, but such a result 
would be wholly unworkable, and would not there- 
fore meet the case. But if we can have Christian 
unity first, or that oneness of the Disciples, for 
which our Divine Lord prayed; or to put it into 
another form, if we can have real Christians who 
are to constitute the component parts of the union 
we are seeking to accomplish, then such a union 
should give great promise of permanency, and also 
great promise of usefulness. 

I am specially anxious to be understood at this 
point, for the reason it will serve to explain what 
some have regarded as a distinct narrowness in the 
plea which the Disciples have made for Christian 
union. Some have’ charged them with pleading 
for a union, which simply means that all other re- 
ligious bodies shall be absorbed by the Disciples. 
In other words, that their union is similar to that 
of the anaconda and the rabbits. The anaconda is 
always willing to have union with the rabbits, but 
the rabbits do not readily consent to the kind of 
union the anaconda proposes. This has been part- 
ly the difficulty with the pleading for Christian 
union by the Disciples. They have been supposed 
to occupy a position where they were willing to 


Is THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? 63 


have union on the principle that ail the denomina- 
tions should be absorbed in their Churches, and 
this notion has not been acceptable to the denom- 
inations. 

Now a superficial view of the Disciple conten- 
tion may seem to justify the point which the de- 
nominations have constantly made with respect to 
this matter. But a deeper and more comprehen- 
sive view will show that, after all, the Disciples are 
right, and for the reason that they are pleading, 
not for denominational union, but for Christian 
union. Their advocacy, when clearly understood, 
undoubtedly means that when all professing 
Christians shall be real Christians, the question of 
union will be at once greatly simplified; and 
whether a practical union can be effected or not, 
there must be a oneness of Christians before any 
kind of Christian union is at all possible. 

Neither have Disciples pleaded for what is call- 
ed Church union or ecclesiastical union; but they 
have stuck closely to their original contention, 
that the first thing to be considered is not the un- 
ion, but the unity; or, to put it in other words, the 
only starting point that promises anything like a 
worthy result must be determined by asking the 
question, Who are Christians? Hence, the Disci- 
ple contention for Christian union goes back to the 
question of obedience to the Gospel, for only a 
Scriptural obedience to the Gospel can give us the 
Christians which are necessary in order to have a 
practicable and permanent Christian union. 

We are now prepared to ask, Does the Disciple 
plea furnish a common, reasonable, and workable 
ground for the union of Christians’ Let us brief- 
ly consider this matter in the light of the facts 
of the case. 

What the Disciples believe and teach may be 
summarized as follews: 

(1) The Old and New Testaments reveal the 
divinely inspired wiil of God to men, and these 


64 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


Scriptures contain all that is necessary for “doc- 
trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction 
in righteousness, that the man of God may be per- 
fect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 
II Timothy 3:16, 17. But the New Testament 
is the source of authority in matters specially per- 
taining to the Gospel and the Church. 

(2) The divine excellency and worthiness of 
Jesus, who is the Christ, the Son of the Living 
God; and his official authority and glory as the 
Christ—the Anoinied Prophet, Priest and King, 
who is to instruct us in the way of life, redeem us 
from sin and death, and reign in and over us as 
the rightful sovereign of our taue and disposer of 
our destiny. 

(3) The personal and perpetua! mission of the 
Holy Spirit, to convict the world of sin, of right- 
eousness and of judgment; and to dwell in believ- 
ers as their Comforter, Helper, and Sanctifier; but 
all speculative theories as to special operations, 
apart from the Word of God, are rej ee 

(4) The Gospel as the power of God unto sal- 
vation to everyone that believeth. This Gospel in 
its fullness embraces (a) Facts; (b) Commands; 
(c) Promises. The facts are to be believed, the 
commands obeyed, and the promises enjoyed: 

(5) The Church of Christ, a divine institution, 
composed of such as have turned away from sin, 
openly confessed Christ with the mouth, and have 
been baptised, thereby expressing their loyalty to 
him as their sovereign Lord, and by an overt act 
entering into covenant relationship with him, by 
which act they definitely decide to take up their 
cross and follow him. Baptism (immersion) is, 
therefore, not a regenerative act, nor is it simply a 
bodily act. It properly follows such a change of 
mind and heart as is evidenced by “repentance to- 
ward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus 
Christ,” and is the decisive step by which the peni- 
tent believer accepts Christ, and assumes the obli- 
gations of the Divine Government. It is, conse- 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? 65 


quently, an act in which the whole man—body, 
soul, and spirit—moves up “toward God.” (See 1 
Peter 3:21.) This view makes neither too much nor 
too little of the ordinance. While on the one hand 
it repudiates “Baptismal Regeneration,’ on the 
other it rescues baptism from the meaningless, for- 
mal ceremony into which it has fallen in some 
quarters. 

(6) The fullness and freeness of the salvation 
offered in the Gospel to all who accept it on the 
terms proposed. 

(7) The necessity of righteousness, holiness, 
and benevolence on the part of professed Chris- 
tians, alike in view of their own fina] salvation and 
of their mission to turn the world to God. 

From this stateraent it will be seen that, in the 
first place, the Disciple movement unquestionably 
furnishes a common ground, or a ground that is 
thoroughly catholic in every respect. A careful 
examination of the principles of the movement, to 
which attention has been called, wi!i reveal the fact 
that there is nothing in these principles that may 
not be accepted by every evangelical denomination 
in Christendom. it may be, and ac doubt is true, 
that these denominations contend for some things 
that are not included in the Disciple contention, 
but these are things that are not absolutely nec- 
essary in order to either Christian state or charac- 
ter, though they may be of considerable impor- 
tance to those who advocate them. But in order to 
have a common ground, or a position that is en- 
tirely catholic, it is necessary that everything 
should be thrown overboard that is not essential 
in the making of Christians, and in keeping the 
unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Let us 
now briefly indicate a few points where the cath- 
olicity of the Disciples may be clearly made evi- 
dent. 

(1) As already seen, they hold to the Serip- 
tures as furnishing an infallible rule of faith and 

5 


t 


66 THE DISCIPLES OF OHRIST. 


practice. Now this is common ground for all of 
those that are known as Evangelical denomina- 
tions. These all claim to take the Scriptures as a 
sufficient guide for everything in religious matters, 
but they add to the Scriptures certain formulas of 
faith or human creeds. Now our troubles begin 
the moment these additions are made. We have 
no controversy with any of our religious neighbors 
as lomg as they are willing to take the Scriptures 
and the Scriptures alone as a sufficient rule of faith 
and practice. But the moment human creeds are 
added then divisions begin. Disciples say let all 
give up these creeds and immediately we are on the 
road to Christian vnion. 

(2) Equally true is it that the Disciple posi- 
tion with respect to Christ is common ground upon 
which all can unite. While they heartily accept 
the Scriptural Creed, viz., Jesus is the Christ, the 
Son of the Living God, they, at the same time, re- 
ject all speculative views concerning him, so far as 
these views may be regarded as tests of Christian 
fellowship. Men may speculate if they will, but 
they must not make their speculations barriers in 
the way of Christian union. 

(3) A common ground is also maintained as 
regards the office and work of the Holy Spirit. The 
Disciples hold strongly the position that every con- 
version begins and ends with the Holy Spirit, but 
they decline to follow those who go beyond the 
statements of Scripture as to hom the Spirit oper- 
ates. They contend that as long as it is simply af- 
firmed that the Spirit operates through the truth 
there is no need of controversy among Christians, 
but the moment we begin to speculate and declare 
that the Spirit overates independently, or apart 
from the truth, in the conversion of sinners, that 
moment -do we open the way for divisions among 
the people of God. Nevertheless, Disciples do not 
make the extra views which others may hold a bar- 
rier to fellowship with them, provided they hold 


IS THHIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? 67 


to the common ground that the Holy Spirit does 
operate through the truth. 

(4) Disciples teach also a common ground up- 
on which all Christians may unite in evangelizing 
the world. They teach that the Gospel is the pow- 
er of God unto salvation to every one that believ- 
eth and that, in order to believe, this Gospel must 
be carried into all the world and preached to every 
creature. This practically unites them with all 
missionary people in sending the good news to the 
nations. 

(5) The same course of argument will at once 
eliminate all controversy with respect to the bap- 
tisimal question. Practically there. has never been 
any controversy about whether immersion is bap- 
tism or not. With the exception of a few very 
small men it has always been conceded by the 
whole of Christendom that immersion is valid bap- 
tism. But very many are unwilling to concede 
that sprinkling and pouring can be baptism at all. 
Now as the controversy is about the latter, Disci- 
ples say, why not give up what is not at all neces- 
sary, and for the sake of union adopt that action 
of baptism which is practically universally admit- 
ted to be both Scriptural and valid. 

Following the same line of argument we at once 
reach a common platform with respect to the sub- 
ject of baptism. Nobody questions that believer’s 
baptism is valid. Controversy among professed 
Christians is impessible as long as we occupy the 
catholic ground of believer’s baptism. It is only 
when we contend for infant baptism that aliena- 
tion and strife take the place of union and har- 
mony. 

The Disciple position, as regards the design of 
baptism, admits also of an irenicon which makes 
Christian union not only possible but very easily 
accomplished, if all will accept substantially the 
main thing for which Disciples contend. They 
contend strongly for what they believe the Scrip- 


68 THE DISOIPLES OF CHRIST. 


tures teach as to the design of baptism; but as 
this question belongs properly to the domain of 
philosophy rather than to the plain facts, Disciples 
do not make agreement with them on this matter a 
necessary condition of fellowship. If the com- 
mand to be baptized is honestly obeyed, Disciples 
will not allow their views as to what baptism means 
to stand in the way of Christian union. 

(6) Equally true is the contention of the Disci- 
ples, when we test it by the name. They have al- 
ways been willing to be called by any Scriptural 
names such as, “Christians,” “Disciples of Christ,” 
“Children of God,’ “Saints,’ “Brethren,” etc., 
etc., but in refusing to be called by any human 
name, or after any human leader, they have sim- 
ply refused to abandon a catholic platform for 
that which is narrow and exclusive. They say, why 
not exclude all aames that are divisive in their 
character and adopt only those that are Scriptural 
and that all can accept? 

(7) The subject of Church government may 
also be settled by the same method of qonter ne 
for catholicity. Disciples occupy a position wit 
respect to this matter which practically covers the 
whole ground. They have bishops or presbyters 
in all their Churches, while these Churches are 
nevertheless congregational in the best sense. They 
hold that while the Church certainly occupies a 
very prominent place in the remedial system, nev- 
ertheless it is not the first nor the most important 
thing to be considered. It may be that too much em- 
phasis has not been placed upon it, but unquestion- 
ably too little has been placed upon that which 
properly comes before it, and without which the 
Church is not worthy of consideration at all. The 
world has really nothing to do with the Church; it 
is Christ that the world must consider. Not only 
Christ, but “Christ and him crucified.” 

The tendency to eae the Church forward and 
put the Gospel in the background, is one of the 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? 69 


evils of the apostasy. The former certainly has 
its proper place, but it is the latter that is “the 
power of God unto salvation to every one that be- 
lieves it.” But the questions, “Which Church is 
right?” “What Church should I join!’ and 
“What Church do you belong to?” clearly indicate 
. the influence of the popular teaching upon this 
subject. The sinner’s attention should not be di- 
rected to the Church at all. His whole thought 
should be fixed upen the Gospel, and when he has 
obeyed this, it is then proper for him to consider 
questions relating to the Church. Hence, in plead- 
ing for a restoration of primitive Christianity, Dis- 
ciples insist upon putting everything in its proper 
place. Usurpation seems to be the-law of the apos- 
tasy. Normal position is Heaven’s law. 

But the Disciples must not be urderstood as ad- 
vocating loose notions as to the Church. When we 
begin to talk about Christ, it is not difficult to run 
into sentimental platitudes. In fact, there is a 
great deal of preaching and writing on this sub- 
ject, which, however well intended, is by no means 
helpful to a hearty faith in the Christian religion. 
While it is unquestionably true that Christ, in his 
glorious personality, as the chief among ten thou- 
sand, the cne altogether lovely, should be preached 
to sinners; at the same time, it should not be for- 
gotten that, in an important sense, he and his 
Church cannot be separated. As well think of sep- 
arating the head and the body; for Christ is the 
Head, and the Church is his body. There must 
not, therefore, be any letting down of the dignity 
or importance of the Church. To try to exalt Christ 
at the expense of his Church is alike unscriptural 
and unphilosophical, and generally ends in a prac- 
tical rejection of both. 

This brings me to say that a corect understand- 
ing of the New Testament Church is essential to 
a complete return to Apostolic Christianity. What, 
then, is the Scriptural meaning of the term 


70 THE DISCIPLES OF OHRIST. 


“Church” as applied to the children of God? 

Perhaps we may be assisted in this important 
study if I at once state that, in my judgment, the 
term “Church” always conveys the same idea, and 
that any alteration of this idea is effected by modi- 
fying words or conditions. What, then, are the 
words or conditions which modify the term 
“Church?” To answer this question fully would 
require more space than J can now command. 
Hence, I must confine myself mamly to a single 
modification, viz., that of place. What, then, is 
the territorial modification? 

A very suggestive fact meets us at the beginning 
of our investigation. We often read of the Church 
at a given place, but never Churches. Ten times 
the Church at Jerusalem is spoken of; five times 
the Church at Corinth; five times the Church at 
Ephesus; four times the Church at Antioch; three 
times the Church at Laodicea; three times the 
Church at Thessalonica; twice the Church at 
Smyrna; twice the Church at Pergamos; twice the 
Church at Thyatira; twice the Church at Sardis; 
twice the Church at Philadelphia; twice the Church 
at the house of Aquilla; once the Church at the 
house of Nymphas; once the Church at the house 
of Philemon; once the Church at Cencherea; and 
once the Church at Philippi. In all these instances 
the term “Church” is in the singular number, and 
is modified only by the territorial condition. It 
it always the Church, but the Church at a place, 
the Church localized. But observe that this local 
modification in no way changes the meaning of the 
leading term. Nor is this Church at a place dif- 
ferent in any essential feature from any other use 
of the word when applied to the children of God, 
except as to the local modification. 

When, however, the term is used in the plural 
rumber, then the local modification changes from 
a definite city or place to a large territory, such as 
“Asia,” “‘Judea,’ “Galatia,’ “Macedonia,” etc., 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? 71 


etc. Hence, we read of the “Churches of Asia,” 
but not the “Church of Asia,” the “Churches of 
Judea,” the “Churches of Galatia,” the “Churches 
of Macedonia,” etc., etc., but never of the single 
Church of any province. This last fact is a habit 
of language. The units of several places when 
added together, tae the plural form or have a plu- 
ral signification. Hence, when the Church in a 
province is spoken of, the local modification con- 
trols the form of the leading term. By adding 
together a number of places belonging to one prov- 
ince, the local modification, for the time being, 
changes the singular of the leading term into the 
plural; and this being true, it is both proper and 
scriptural to speak of the Church at Liverpool, the 
Church at London, the Church at New York, the 
Church at Chicago, ete., but not of the Churches 
at any one of these places, though it would be cor- 
rect to speak of the Churches of these places when 
the places are taken together. It is also proper 
and scriptural to speak of the Churches of En- 
gland, the Churches of France, the Churches of 
the United States, but not of the Church in the 
singular number of these countries, for the units 
taken together pluralize the leadirg term. 

But when speaking of the Church of God, with- 
out using any local modification, it is always prop- 
er and scriptural to speak of it in the singular 
number. However, should we spesk of it as lim- 
ited to some province or large territory, we would 
certainly use the plural number. Still, this in no 
way affects the idea of unity which is certainly the 
leading idea, since the term “Church” is only made 
to surrender its singular form when the local mod- 
ae is counted rather than the term “Church” 
itself. 

The practical »esults of these conclusions are 
very great. We can already see our way to an ear- 
nest protest against at least too extreme views held 
on this subject. We feel sure that neither Dio- 


G2 _ THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


cesan Episcopacy nor extreme Congregationalism 
is taught in the Scriptures. Nor do I believe that 
either of these represents the safest or wisest form 
of Church government. 

To sum up the Disciple position, it may be well 
to indicate specifically the comprehensive platform 
for which they coniend. This will give a clear idea 
as to what they are trying to accumplish. Their 
aim, briefly stated, is as follows: 

(1) To exalt Jesus, both as Lord and Christ; 
and, as Head of his body, the Church, that he may 
“in all things have the pre-eminence.” They sum 
up everything in him. With them he is all in all. 
Without his light and love we perish forever. His 
divinity is our foundation; his life our example; 
his intercession our fountain of grace and mer- 
cy; his teaching our guide; his Church our school; 
his spirit our comforter; his Gospel our reliance 
for the conversion of sinners; his commandments 
our life; his promises our rejoicing; so that 
through faith and obedience, we are blessed with 
“all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ 
Jesus.” To trust in the Lord Jesus, to love and 
_ obey him—this is salvation here and life eternal 
hereafter. 

(2) To reject human dogmas and human 
names as tending io division among the people of 
God, and to adopt that only as authoritative for 
which there is a clearly revealed precept or exam- 
ple in the New Testament. 

(3) To turn alien sinners to Christ, according 
to New Testament teaching and example, and to 
build up these converts in faith, hope, and love. 

(4) To earnestly enjoin the obligation to ob- 
serve the first day of the week as the Lord’s day, 
in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ, by acts of worship such as the New Testa- 
ment teaches, and by spiritual culture such as be- 
fits this memorial day; and to enjoin especially 
the obligation of the Lord’s Supper, to be a 


¢ 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? 73 


every Lord’s day, in commemoration of the suf- 
fering and death of him “who was made sin for 
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the 
righteousness of God in Him.” 

(5) To establish Churches without human 
names, ordinances, or creeds; Churches which are 
Congregational, because self-governed and inde- 
pendent; Presbyterian, because administered by 
presbyters, or elders and deacons; Episcopal, be- 
cause an elder, or pastor, in the New Testament 
sense, is an overseer; Baptist, because faithful to 
New Testament teaching as regards the ordinance 
of baptism; Methodists, because doing all things 
methodically; or to use the Scripture style, “de- 
cently and in order; Catholic, because insisting 
upon nothing that may not be adopted by all other 
religious bodies without any surrender of con- 
science; in short, Churches that are Christian and 
Apostolic, because comprehending in their require- 
ments all that Christ and his Apostles, in their 
teaching, make necessary in order to form that so- 
ciety which is called the Church, or the body of 
Christ. 

(6) To illustrate in the life of the Churches 
the Christianity of Christ, which is something more 
than doctrinal orthodoxy; so much so, indeed, that 
it is Divine living, and much of it is living for 
others. Consequently, the spirit of missions must 
necessarily animate all who hope to be actively 
alive in the Churches, for the spirit of missions 
is essentially the spirit of Christ. 

(7) To pray aod work for the union of God’s 
people, and to co-operate with all Christians, as far 
as possible, in all good works for the salvation of 
men and the glory of God. 

Now it seems to me that every fair-minded per- 
son must regard the position of the Disciples, when 
taken as 2 whole, as eminently catholic as well as 
reasonable. It is also workable, whenever those 
who profess to be followers of the Christ will 


74 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


agree to be guided solely by his authority. But 
as long as men will continue to make their own 
conditions of fellowship, and insist upon these in 
order to Christian union, then it is highly probable 
that no kind of union will ever be practically real- 
ized, to say nothing of a Christian union, the only 
kind that could possibly be of much particular 
value. If, however, all who love the Lord Jesus 
Christ would adopt the principles and practices set 
forth in the foregoing considerations, I do not 
doubt for a moment that Christian union would no 
longer be a “hope deferred,’ but would be a joy- 
ful realization before the present decade shall 
have ended. The real difficulty in the way of such 
a union is the additions which have been made by 
the respective denominations, while none of these 
additions are absolutely essential to the: salvation 
of men. 

The Disciple coutention is not only catholic and 
reasonable, but workable also, from the fact that 
it makes the terms of fellowship precisely equal 
to the terms of Discipleship; or to put it in other 
words, the terms of fellowship must never be made 
to comprehend more than is necessary to make 
Christians and maintain the Christian character. 
This being true, the Disciple position offers a com- 
prehensive and practical platform on which every 
Christian can stand without surrendering anything 
that is necessary to the integrity of the Scriptures 
on one hand, or the sacredness of conscience on 
the other. 

III, The Disciple Plea is the most hopeful that 
has yet been presented for the rapid and success- 
ful Evangelization of the world, Just three things 
seem to comprehend the whole area of the respon- 
sibility of Christians. These are as follows: 

(1) The faithful proclamation of the Gospel 
to every creature in order to the conversion of the 
world to Christ. 

(2) The union of all, who are thus converted, 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? 75 


upon the one foundation of the Apostles and 
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cor- 
ner stone. 

(3) The building up of all these disciples in 
faith, hope, and love, or in other words; developing 
them from “Babes in Christ,’ to that spiritual 
manhood which will give them an abundant en- 
trance into the everlasting Kingdom. 

The first of these claims our main consideration 
for the present moment. It is simply certain that 
no advocacy of any religious plea can possible 
commend itself to thinking people, unless it has in 
it a distinct promise and possibility of evangeliz- 
ing the world. From the very beginning of their 
movement, the Disciples have laid much emphasis 
upon the preaching of the Gospel to the uncon- 
verted. In the early days of their movement 
every Disciple was really an evangelist, carrying 
with him at all times and in all places the New 
Testament, and preaching the Gospel to every 
creature as he had opportunity. Possibly some of 
this preaching was very crude, and in not a few 
instances it may have been ill-timed, and conse- 
quently probably did more harm than good. But, 
speaking broadly, there can be no question about 
the fact that this zeal for converts was one of the 
strong features of the movement during its early 
history. Since Churches have become established 
in nearly all important centers, evangelization has 
been carried on mainly, either in or from these 
Church centers, and as new methods of evangeliza- 
tion have come into vogue, individual efforts, such 
as characterized the early days of the movement, 
have become less and less active. It may be ques- 
tioned whether this change in the policy of the Dis- 
ciples will be productive of the best results. How- 
ever, as I am just now stating facts rather than 
the philosophy of these facts, I must leave this im- 
portant question without. any further considera- 
tion. 


76 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


The point I wish to emphasize is the fact that, 
whether Disciples work by the old methods or the 
new, it cannot be doubted that their preaching of 
the Gospel has not only been eminently success- 
ful in winning souls to Christ, but has also im- 
pressed its character upon the whole religious 
world. Very few of the religious denominations 
now preach as they did in the beginning of the last 
century, cr, indeed, at the beginning of the last 
half century. There has been a wondedtial change 
within the past fifty years. It is easily demonstra- 
ble that this change has not yet gone far enough, 
but undoubtedly it is quite sufficient to make it evi- 
dent that the Disciple movement has done much 
to liberalize, vitalize, and even Christianize some 
of: the preaching of the present day, outside of 
their own communion. The reaction of their move- 
ment upon the Christian world generally has done 
much to bring the preaching of the twentieth cen- 
tury more distinctly into line with a Gospel that is 
rational and that is. therefore, a factor in the pos- 
sible conversion of the world. I think it is practi- 
cally certain that the Disciple contention made the 
recent great Inter-Church Conference on Federa- 
tion at New York, a possibility. It could not have 
been held even ten years ago. It was a sign of the 
times. 

The main point to be considered is this: Is it 
probable that the general masses of men, the world 
over, will be influenced by any other plea than that 
which comprehends the main features of the Disci- 
ple movement? If it be true that faith comes by 
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, and if 
it be also true that the whole Gospel message is 
extremely simple and thoroughly adapted to man 
as he is, it ought to be evident to even the tyro in 
religious thinking that the complex theologies of 
denominational Christendom can never conquer the 
world for Christ. Christ himself, or the Gospel 
message which is the embodiment of his redemp- 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NELDED? eR 


tive work, can alone meet the case and satisfy the 
conditions of those who are without God, and with- 
out hope in the world. 

It seems to me that at this very point the Disci- 
ple movement furnishes the key to the whole situ- 
ation. They make their Gospel proclamation a 
very simple matter by applying the system of her- 
meneutics to which I have already called attention. 
They have always emphasized the difference be- 
tween the dispensations. They have insisted that 
the Gospel in its iullness was never preached un- 
til the day of Pentecost, and that consequently we 
cannot find a full and satisfactory answer to meet 
all the cases of inquiring souls until we come to 
Pentecost, which marks the beginning of the 
Christian dispensation. They have sought con- 
stantly to follow the example of the Apostles in 
preaching the Gospel to the unconverted. They 
have noticed that the Apostles simply told the 
story of the cross, the story of Jesus and his love, 
and the matter was then left with the hearers ad- 
dresssed whether they would accept or reject the 
message delivered. Would it not inspire a new con- 
fidence in the power of the Gospel jwhich is now 
preached, if we were to act in precisely the same 
manner? As the matter now stands, it is no won- 
der that the people hesitate. When they see that 
this Gospel has to be supplemented by so many 
devices unknown io the primitive Church, it cer- 
tainly is not surprising that they should lose faith 
in Christianity and become either indifferent to its 
claims entirely, or else active opponents of its 
progress. 

What is needed, then, first of all, is a return to 
the Apostolic plan of working. Let us throw 
aside our human expedients, our uninspired 
means, and let us go back to the old Jerusalem 
Gospel, and preach it with all the fervor that we 
can command; and then if our success is not com- 
mensurate with our expectations, the fault at least 


78 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


will not be ours, and we can with a clear conscience 
say that we are free from the blood of all men. 

Accepting the Word of God as a sufficient 
rule of faith and practice, it is abundantly evi- 
dent that the present state of religious society is 
abnormal. No honest, well-informed person would 
for a moment contend that the denominationalism - 
of to-day fairly represents the Primitive Church. 
Among intelligent, earnest people there is every- 
where manifest a feeling of dissatisfaction with 
the present order of things. Many, indeed, are 
seeking for a remedy and would gladly accept of 
any solution that gives reasonable promise of unity 
among the children of God and a speedy conver- 
sion of the world. This fact was made distinctly 
evident at the Inter-Church Conference on Feder- 
ation. 

In proposing such a remedy, Disciples contend 
that two extremes must be carefully avoided. First, 
in breaking away irom sectarianism we must not 
run into latitudinarianism. This has been the fatal 
mistake of some very intellectual and cultivated 
people. Their own culture is quite too broad for 
the narrow shibboleths of religious partyism, and 
failing to distinguish between Christianity proper 
and the mcdern representations of it, they contin- 
ue their rebound from the dogmatism of human 
creeds to what is practically infidelity. This is 
greatly to be regretted, not only on their own ac- 
count, but because of the efficient aid which they 
are capable of rendering the cause of Christ. Are 
they wholly responsible for the position which they 
at present occupy? We certainly do not wish to 
lessen their responsibility in the smallest degree, 
but we cannot help feeling that many of those who 
condemn them most are not entirely without blame 
in the matter. Let those! who profess to be Chris- 
tians bring their faith and practice into harmony 
with the Divine standard, and then they will at 
least be in a position to consistently find fault with 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? 79 


those who are now driven from the communion of 
the various denominations by the interposition of 
the “traditions of ithe fathers.” 

But the second point to be regarded is equally - 
important. While we carefully avoid the human- 
isms of the denominational creeds we must be 
equally careful not to make an iron bedstead of the 
Bible. The Lord never intended his Holy Word 
to be used in any such way. Especially is the New 
Testament far removed from such a notion. That 
it is an infallible guide to all who accept him, who 
is the life and ligh* of it, I do not for one moment 
question. But is it not possible to claim the Bible 
as our rule of faith and practice, and yet become 
as intensely sectarian as those who formulate 
their faith in human symbols? My own observa- 
tion leads me to ccnclude that some who claim to 
be the earnest advocates of the Bible, and the Bi- 
ble alone, are the most intensely sectarian in fact, 
intolerant in spirit, and unfruitful in living of all 
who represent the present divided state of Chris- 
tendom. Surely this ought not to be so, but that 
it is so will not be doubted by those who are com- 
petent to judge. This brings me to state more dis- 
tinctly our own religious position. 

The problem we are seeking to solve may be 
stated as follows: Is it possible, in our church 
life, to be true to the Divine Word and at the same 
time be free enough for every werthy aspiration 
of every human scul? In other words, can we 
earnestly advocate strict fidelity to God’s Holy 
Truth, and still meet the reasonable desires _ of 
those who are to-day driven to latitudinarianism or 
rationalism by the human dogmas which have been 
erected into tests of fellowship? This is the prob- 
lem of problems; and yet, in my judgment 
this problem must be solved if the world is ever 
converted to Chrisi. When it is solved, both sec- 
tarianism and infidelity will be shorn of their 
strength, and consequently, the future triumphs of 


80 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


the Gospel will be commensurate with our most 
ardent expectations. 

Is it possible, then, for us to be true to the Bible 
and at the same time free from sectarianism? Can 
we meet the reasonable demands of the highest 
culture, and still avoid the extreme of latitudinar- 
ianism? I answer both of these questions in the 
affirmative, and I feel sure that, if the Christian- 
ity of the New Testament is once properly appre- 
hended, no one will have much difficulty in agree- 
ing with what may at first seem to them an imprac- 
ticable position. 

Faith and obedience are the two words which 
comprehend the whole of Christiaa obligation and 
duty. Concerning this statement there would, per- 
haps, be no difference of opinion among those who 
are at all competext to judge. Our differences be- 
gin only when we begin to define these terms: 
What is faith? and what is obedience? or what is 
properly and scripturally embraced within these 
terms? 

This brings us tc inquire what is the faith nec- 
essary to the formation of Christian character? 
Without referring to the proof-texts (though 
plenty of these are ready to hand) it will be sufii- 
cient to say that the Apostles preached only one 
thing, viz., that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the 
living God. This proposition, though variously 
stated, was everywhere presented as containing, so 
far as faith goes, all that was essential to Chris- 
tian character; and this was not only everywhere 
preached, but this was what was everywhere be- 
lieved by those who entered upon the Christian 
life. 

Now, if we limit our Articles of Faith to this 
grand proposition, are we not still true to the 
teaching of the Hcly Scriptures? and can we add 
anything to this while we confine ourselves to the 
things that legitimately belong to faith? Our po- 
sition is that we siiould insist upon nothing as an 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? $1 


article of faith that is not essential to Christian 
character; and as, according to the Scriptures, the 
only faith required to this end is a hearty trust in 
the personal Redezmer, we at once reject all hu- 
man creeds and insist upon the Divine creed as the 
only foundation of the Christian’s faith. Some of 
our objections to buman symbols may be briefly 
stated as follows: 

(1) They substitute philosophical speculations 
for the personal Christ, thereby usurping the 
sphere of faith with the things that belong to 
knowledge. 

(2) They are without any divine sanction, and 
consequenty should not be made tests of Christian 
fellowship. We shovld certainly have a “thus saith 
the Lord” for everything that enters into the ques- 
tion of fellowship. 

(3) They are schismatical in their tendency. 
The history of the Church is a sad commentary on 
the influence of human dogmas upon the peace and 
harmony of the children of God. 

(4) No human creed can be perfect. Hence, 
even if it were right to formulate the things of 
knowledge and make them objects of faith, such 
formulas must of necessity exhibit many of the 
traces of human weakness. Men are short-sighted 
at best, and it ought to be expected therefore that 
their most careful work will lack the completeness 
which should characterize a creed for the Church 
of God. 

(5) No humaa creed can ever be adapted 
to every creature. The Infinite Mind can alone 
provide that which is suitable to such an infinite 
variety of circumstances and conditions as is 
everywhere found among men. The best that any 
number of men can do is to provide for those who 
are of like tastes, habits, ete., and in like circum- 
stances with themselves. They cannot reasonably 
hope to take into consideration the whole sphere of 
human thought and action, consequently the most 

6 


82 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


perfect human cre-d possible must, after all, have 
only a limited application. 

(6) Human creeds are not oniy limited in their 
réach, and unsatisfactory in their character, but 
they are not permanent. They are either chang- 
ing or else passing away entirely. “Jesus Christ 
is the same yesterday, to-day and forever.” 

(7) God has given to the Church a creed—a 
Divine creed—and it is disrespectful to our Heay- 
only Father, presumptuous and wicked to substi- 
tute anything for that which Divine wisdom has 
prepared. 

Such are some cf the objections that may be 
urged against human creeds as bonds of union and 
communion among the followers of Christ, and we 
think that this indictment of these creeds is quite 
sufficient to condemn them to everlasting banish- 
ment from all the places they now occupy. 


“What is the ‘true theology?’ The Mind 

Grows dizzy with the creeds that men would teach ; 

How shall the earnest seeker ever find 

The Way. The Truth? for far and wide men preach 

Conflicting dogmas, doctrines lov’d by each, 

While hung’ring Spirits starve for Christ’s own Bread, 

The Bread of Life; and many vainly reach 

With hands which seek for comfort, through the dread 

And murky air, where Love and Hope seem crushed 
and dead 


“Dogma’s a curse! The path of truth Is clear, 
Show where the Christ Himself hath calmly trod, 
See where the life of love hath vanquished fear, 
Read in the awful cross man’s way to God! 
Here lies our safety, heavenly is the road; 
Christ’s own true words, not men’s, must be our guide, 
‘Follow thou Me, for thee I bore Sin’s load.’ 
No man will fail of truth, whate’er betide, 
Who hears that voice and follows Christ the crucified.” 


I think we have now made it evident, so far as 
faith is concerned, that it is quite pussible tobe true 
to the teaching of the Scriptures, and at the same 
time entirely free from sectarianism. In fact we 
think our position is not only true to the Word of 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? 83 


God, but would, if generally approved, completely 
overthrow sectarianism with all of its concomitant 
evils, and thus open the way for a complete res- 
toration of Primitive Christianity in both its faith 
and. practice. 

But is this position such as will provide for the 
reasonable demands of the broadest culture with- 
out reaching the point of latitudinarianism? If so 
then we have sureiy solved the religious problem 
of the present age. 

Of course we do not hope to present what will 
meet the unreasonable demands of culture, no more 
than we could provide for the satisfaction of the 
spirit of sectarianism. No religious position that 
can be taken will suit either of these. Men who are 
in the Church for <elfish purposes. or who are out 
of it for the same reason, are not likely to be in- 
fluenced by the considerations we are offering. I 
make a broad distinction between sectarianism in 
form and sectarianism in spirit. I think there are 
many who occupy 2 sectarian position who are nev- 
ertheless largely free from the sectarian spirit. It 
is also true that there are many highly cultured 
people who stand to-day practically opposed to 
Christianity, who have failed to distinguish be- 
tween the Christianity of the New Testament and 
the modern representations of it. They have been 
driven into apparent infidelity by the unreasonable 
human systems which have usurped the place of 
the religion established by Christ and his Apostles. 

Let us test this matter for a moment. How many 
so-called infidels of the present time really reject 
the proposition we have presented as the Chris- 
tian’s creed? Doubtless there are some. But is 
not the number small as compared with those who 
reject the various human symbols which are offer- 
ed as bonds of fellowship? And would not even 
this number still be reduced if Ituman symbols 
were all abandoned and the Divine Creed every- 
where respected as it was in the Primitive Church? 
I feel sure that to ask these questions is to prac- 


84 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


tically answer them. No one who is at all ac- 
quainted with the present state of religious con- 
troversy will question the possibility of satisfying 
a large portion of those who are now standing out- 
side of the Churches by making the proposition 
we have presented the only object of faith. 

But there is still another question of prime im- 
portance which must be briefly noticed. Could 
such a position as I have presented be justly 
chargeable with latitudinarianism? I am conscious 
that some will think so, and hence there are those 
who will doubtless wish to hedge against this ten- 
dency with human definitions and explanations. 
But just here is the precise origin of human creeds 
against which we have presented such formidable 
objections. It is perhaps impossible to provide 
against all difficulties, no matter what course we 
may pursue, and it may be that some would accept 
the Divine Creed and yet practically hold to lati- 
tudinarian views. But I fail to see how human 
symbols can restrain this tendency. As a matter of 
fact I know that this tendency is again and again 
developed in all the Churches of Christendom, not- 
withstanding the barriers that have been erected 
against it. It might occasionally show itself 
among those who hold simply the Divine Creed. 
But I feel sure there is less danger of this 
when we are guided by Divine authority, than 
when our safeguards are the definitions of human 
creeds. Hence, by accepting the Divine Creed we 
not only ieduce the tendency to adopt heresy with- 
in the Church, but we largely reduce the number 
of heretics outside the Church by bringing the con- 
dition of entrance to the reasonable requirements 
of Apostolic precept and example. 

Surely the proposition that Jesus as the Christ, 
the Son of the living God is comprehensive enough 
for the greatest intellect in all the world, while at 
the same time it is simple enough for every re- 
sponsible person to apprehend. Who can fathom 
the depth, or ascend to the heights of the personal 


IS THEIR PLEA STILL NEEDED? 85 


Christ? Who can measure the length and breadth 
of him who is the first and the last, the beginning 
and the end, the Alpha and Omega of all time and 
eternity? And yet, how simple is his personality 
when he touches human need! Truly can we say: 


“Our little systems have their day; 
They have their day and cease to be: 
They are but broken lights of thee, 

And Thou, O Lord, art more than they.” 


The salvation of the world is not possible until 
the eclipse of the Sun of Righteousness is ended. 
The real Christ is now obscured by our “little sys- 
tems,” and consequently the work of saving men is 
very much hindered while the subjugation of the 
world to his imperial reign is correspondingly de- 
layed. The Disciple Plea aims to end the eclipse 
and thereby reveal again the full-orbed glory of 
Christ as when his light first shone upon this sin- 
stricken earth. 

The position of the Disciples is especially 
strong and hopeful in the work of foreign mis- 
sions. Our missionaries have no apologies to make 
for denominational divisions. They do not have 
to defend the Bible and at the same time defend 
a human creed. When they present Christ to the 
heathen world, as the Savior of sinners, they are 
not compelled to try to explain and justify the 
division of his body into the numerous sects which 
now make up the sum total of modern Protest- 
antism. 

Another important fact should be remembered. 
In all foreign missionary fields the prevailing re- 
ligions are dominated by some great personality. 
Mohammedanism has for its head Mohammed; 
Buddhism has for its head Buddha; Brahmanism 
has for its head Brahma, etc., etc. Now the first 
and most important thing the missionary has to do 
is to influence the heathen to change from one 
leader to another. Nor is this a very difficult mat- 
ter when our Divine Lord is presented in all the 


86 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


loveliness of his personal character, and he alone 
is made the object of faith. 

Such are some of the reasons why the Disciple 
movement is still needed. From the foregoing con- 
siderations, it is evident that this movement meets 
the present conditions of the world as no other re- 
ligious movement does. It is readily admitted that 
many of the denominations of Christendom are 
doing a great work, but denominationalism itself 
is a sign of weakness, and is one of the reasons 
why the conversion of the world is delayed. We 
have seen that the Disciple movement is a plea 
for Christian union, and such a union is absolutely 
necessary in order to the conversion of the world; 
but such a union can never be attained except upon 
a platform that is catholic, reasonable and worka- 
ble. We have found the Disciple Plea fairly meets 
the conditions which are necessary in the evange- 
lization of the world, in the union of Christians, 
and in the building up of these Christians in faith, 
hope and love. Surely such a Plea as this can 
never grow old, or fall into disuse, as long as there 
are souls to save and continents to win for Christ. 


PART III. 


HOW CAN THE PLEA BE MADE MOST 
SUCCESSFUL? 


This age is practical if it is nothing else. It 
judges everything by results. In the long run it 
makes very little difference about either our prin- 
ciples or methods, if they do not yield satisfac- 
tory returns. It is, therefore, useless to claim 
for the Plea of the Disciples superiority over that 
of others unless it can be shown that it accom- 
plishes much more in all that pertains to the prog- 
ress of the religion of Christ in the world. 

Nor will it do to rest upon past successes. 
These, no doubt, have been very great, but they 
will not suffice to meet the demands of the present 
or the future. We must provide adequately to 
meet our whole responsibility, or else we may have 
applied to us_ the language of our Divine Lord 
when he asked, “What do ye more than others?” 
Undoubtedly if the Disciples occupy the advanta- 
geous position to which I have called attention, 
there can be no excuse for them if they fail to 
achieve the greatest possible success in the work of 
evangelizing the world, and in other respects meet- 
ing the conditions of the Christian life. Claim- 
ing, as they certainly do, a superiority in the posi- 
tion which they occupy, they must now show by 
their works that they are equal to the high claims 
which they make for themselves with respect to 
the great principles for which they contend. In 
my judgment their Plea must be made eminently 
successful in the future, unless we are prepared 
for grievous disappointment with reference to the 
progress and final triumphs of Christianity. Let 
us, then, earnestly consider some of the conditions 
which must be observed if our success shall be, 


87 


88 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


even in a moderate degree, commensurate with the 
claims which we make. 

I. We must contend earnestly for the Plea. We 
have already seen that the Plea is still needed. 
While it is freely admitted on all hands that other 
religious bodies have moved up considerably, under 
the influence of the Disciple contention, at the 
same time it is undoubtedly true that much still 
remains to be done before the present divided state 
of Christendom shall be healed, and the world 
practically won for our Divine Lord. It is my 
candid opinion that the Disciples must lead in the 
great movement which is to carry the banner of 
the cross to ultimate victory. But they cannot do 
this if their movement is characterized by half- 
heartedness or by a doubtful hesitancy which 
must prove to be little more than practical defeat. 
To believe in success is success half won. We can 
not inspire others with the hope of victory while we 
ourselves are halting between two opinions. If 
our cause is right and there is a need for it, then 
we ought to contend for it with all the earnestness 
that a whole-hearted faith in it inspires. There 
should be no doubtful zfs in our advocacy. We ei- 
ther have a mission to fulfill or we have not. If 
we have no mission, then let us get out of the way 
and make room for others to lead. But if we have 
a mission, and I firmly believe we have, then we 
must keep up our distinctive work and advocate 
our distinctive Plea with a faith and earnestness 
which will assuredly carry conviction wherever 
manifested. Nothing short of this will justify the 
high claims which we make with respect to the 
character of our Plea. 

II. We must make our advocacy conform to 
our environment, as far as this can be done, with- 
out the sacrifice of principle. This is an important 
matter. We need not reproduce the methods of our 
fathers. Our present environment is different from 
what theirs was. Indeed, we may not regard our- 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 89 


selves as bound to reproduce always even the meth- 
ods of the Apostles. What we must do is to be 
true to the principles of New Testament teaching 
under all circumstances. Principles are eternal; 
methods are constantly changing. We must not, 
therefore, fasten our movement to the “dead hand” 
of the past. The times: have changed and we must 
change with them, in so far as it is necessary to 
adjust our Plea to the new condition of the age 
in which we live. 

I do not mean by this that we must surrender 
any truth for which we have ever contended; nor 
do I mean that it is our duty to simply submit to 
the imperious demands of an environment which 
we may lave had little to do in making. It is 
our duty to influence our environment so that it 
will heartily receive the very Plea for which we 
are contending; but we must not forget that this 
can be done far better by adapting ourselves and 
our advocacy to the age in which we live, wherever 
this can be done without a sacrifice of principle, 
than by entagonizing everything and everybody 
simply because we cannot fully indorse everything 
which we find around us. We mus: be wise as well 
as earnest. A peck of common sense is sometimes 
better than a hundred bushels of enthusiasm. En- 
thusiasm is good; earnestness is indispensable; 
faith overcomes the world; but a few pecks of 
common sense now and then will generally prove 
to be of great value in the management of any 
worthy cause. In the past, we have had a reasona- 
ble amount of earnestness, but we have not always 
been wise in every respect. Just now we have 
reached a time when we cannot afford to make mis- 
takes with respect to a wise policy. 

There are generally at least three periods in 
every new movement: 

First, the period of indifference on the part of 
its enemies. 

Second, the period of attack by its enemies. 


90 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


Third, the period of compromise. 

When Nehemiah was building the wall at Jeru- 
salem, his work went through all three of these pe- 
riods. His enemies first made light of him and 
his work. They said that a fox could push down 
the wall he was building. Their next period was 
the period of warfare. They planned to stop his 
work by an appeal to the sword; but in this they 
were thwarted; for while Nehemiah’s workmen 
had the trowel in one hand they held the sword in 
the other. At last, when all other efforts had failed, 
Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem sought a confer- 
ence in the plain of Ono, where doubtless their 
purpose was to secure a compromise which would 
be in some way to their advantage. 

Our religious mevement has passed through at 
least two of these periods, and we are now in the 
third. Consequently, while it is our plain duty to 
meet every honest approach to us, which comes in 
the spirit of Christian union, we must, at the same 
time, be careful not to compromise the great prin- 
ciples for which we have contended. We can only 
be charitable when we are true to the truth. We 
may compromise within the truth, but we dare not 
compromise the truth itself. But mithin the truth 
there is large opportunity for adapting our Plea to 
the new conditions of the world which have come 
to us with the ushering in of the new century. 

III. We must not reckon that five are more 
than ten. We must keep things in their proper 
proportion. Nevertheless it is undoubtedly true 
that there is a strong tendency to magnify mole- 
hills into mountains, or to make five equal to if not 
more than ten. 

I once kad a friend who was constantly warning 
me against going into particulars when I at- 
tempted to relate an incident. He said it was quite 
possible to spoil a good story by taking too much 
time with details. He furthermore said that those 
who heard the incident would remember only the - 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 91 


main features, and, consequently, the particulars 
were sure to confuse the mind ir retaining that 
which was most important. 

Doubtless there is much truth in my friend’s 
philosophy. But there is still a much more impor- 
tant side to this question of particulars. Some peo- 
ple become so entirely absorbed with details that 
they magnify these far beyond their value. This 
is especially true in religious matters, where the 
mint, annise and cummin are constantly made to 
take the place of the weightier matters of the law; 
or in other words, some people insist that five are 
actually more than ten. They seem to loose all 
idea of proper proportion. In their Church life 
they are constantly magnifying the little things. 
With them the general character of a man is prac- 
tically nothing, if he fails in some small particu- 
lar which they have magnified into undue impor- 
tance. It may be that this particuiar thing is well 
enough in its placc; indeed, it may have the full 
numerical value of five, but these mathematical 
champions of the faith at once give it a value ex- 
ceeding even the number ten, though this latter 
number does not express anything like the full 
value of the character which has been weighed in 
pharisaical scales and found wanting. 

The lesson of all this is very important. We 
must not give too much attention to insignificant 
particulars. If a man is a Christian, that is the 
main thing. We must cultivate the right concep- 
tion of proportion. 

Now this is a most suggestive matter as regards 
the Disciple movement. This movement, when 
properly understood, is broadly catholic. There is 
no place in it where a bigotted sectarian can live 
and prosper, provided the movement is properly 
interpreted and its principles faithfully carried 
out in practice. Nevertheless, there is constant 
danger of loading its great principles down with 
heaps of rubbish, while there is still a greater dan- 


92 THH DISCIPLES OF OHRIST. 


ger of stopping its forward movement by a lot of 
little contentions, which, though important in some 
respects, should not be made to occupy the chief 
place in the Churches by men who have not yet 
learned that ten are greater than five. What mag- 
nifies this danger :s the fact that many of these 
petty considerations, that are insisted upon with so 
much energy, are purely traditions that have no 
Scriptural value whatever. Nevertheless, these, in 
the hands of men and women who have no sense 
of proportion, are calculated to do a vast amount 
of harm, even to the wrecking of Churches and to 
the cultivation of a sectarian spirit which has no 
place in the New Testament ideal of the religion 
of Christ. 

The Disciple movement cannot go forward as it 
should do until all this littleness is thrown over- 
board, and this can never be done until Disciples 
themselves shall come to understand fully that ten 
are actually more than five. 

IV. In all our relations to other religious bodies 
and to the people generally we must manifest the 
right spirit. In contending for the faith, it is not 
necessary to use a bludgeon. “Sweetness and 
light” will often do far more than the strongest 
arguments when these are used in the spirit of 
dogmatism. It is all very well to contend for the 
truth. The importance of this I have already em- 
phasized; but what I now wish to say is that this 
contention should always be in the spirit of truth, 
for it is quite possible to hold to the truth, with 
even a firm and persistent grip, and yet fail to 
manifest the “spirit of truth” which is the pecul- 
iar property of those who are the real followers 
of Christ. Even the world may receive the truth, 
but the “‘spirit of truth” it cannot receive. One is 
the hull; the other the kernel. ; 

The right spirit is always progzessive. It is not 
satisfied with past achievements. It seeks to go 
forward. It presses towards the highest ideal. 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLHA SUCCESSFUL. 93 


This ideal becomes the standard by which all work 
is estimated. 

One thing is especially necessary with respect 
to right relations between the different religious 
bodies. There can never be much progress made 
towards Christian union until there is a. general 
cessation of misrerresenting one another. Un- 
doubtedly much mistrust arises from a misstate- 
ment of each other's position while discussing de- 
nominational differences. However, it ought to be 
emphatically stated that this habit does not always 
result from unworthy motives. It is at least char- 
itable to believe that in many cases the misrepre- 
sentation is wholly from a misunderstanding of the 
issues involved. But whatevér the cause may be, it 
must be removed in order that the real differences 
may be discussed in the spirit of that charity which 
“thinketh no evil.” 

But however this may be, the honest convictions 
of all must be sacredly protected. The vision of 
conscience must be kept clear. Our present divis- 
ions are bad enough; but a dishonest union would 
be infinitely worse. If a real union of Christians 
is ever effected, some of us will have to surrender 
a few of our crochets, and we shall doubtless be 
all the better for that. But we dare not, for 
a single moment, seek a union which would, in the 
slightest degree, degrade the moral faculty. 

Disciples should, therefore, recognize the fact 
that other religious bodies must be honestly con- 
vinced before it is possible to hope that they will 
surrender their present positions, or accept even 
the reasonable position which the Disciples oc- 
cupy. All cannot see our position as we do, and 
the right spirit will be willing to wait on devel- 
opment; and in any case it will exercise charity 
toward every soul that is seeking the light and is 
willing to walk in it. 

We must also recognize the fact that others may 
be right in some things wherein they differ from 


94 THE DISOIPLES OF CHRIST. 


us, notwithstanding we are thoroughly conscien- 
tious in our own convictions. Honesty does not 
necessarily involve infallibility. Saul of Tarsus 
was evidently wrong while persecuting the Church, . 
yet he lived in all good conscience toward God 
the whole of that time. We claim the right, the 
inalienable right, to think, speak and act for our- 
selves within legitimate bounds, and are not will- 
ing to submit tamely to any obtrusive interference 
with this zight; bat are we willing to grant to oth- 
ers the same right we claim for ourselves? Doubt- 
less most persons will demand for themselves all 
that I have indicated, but will they heartily, joy- 
fully, and without reservation, grant the same 
right to every other man? When this question is 
answered honestly in the affirmative, we have at 
one bound practically crossed a sea of difficulties 
on our way to Christian union. The spirit which 
Disciples must manifest toward their religious 
neighbors should fully recognize the rights of con- 
science in the case of every one from whom we 
may honestly differ. 

But, after all, the right spirit will help us to 
emphasize points of agreement rather than points 
of difference. I do not mean that differences must 
be ignored entirely. I believe in looking squarely 
at all the difficulties in the case, and I have not a 
particle of faith that we can make our religious 
movement an eminent success if we do not take in- 
to consideration the differences which really do ex- 
ist. At the same time, I think that a aight spirit 
will help us to understand that unimportant dif- 
ferences should not occupy the important places 
while points of agreement are made to practically 
count for nothing. As already intimated, there is 
a strong tendency in human nature to pervert the 
law of proportion. We often make the smaller 
things count for more than the larger ones. It is 
unquestionably true that in the larger and more 
important things there are many points where most 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 95 


of the denominations practically agree with us, 
‘and which the Disciples need not antagonize. In 
any case, it is certain that a right spirit will help 
us to clear the ground of all hindrance in the way 
of our ultimate triumph, while it is equally cer- 
tain that an uncharitable spirit will retard our 
progress for years to come, if it does not complete- 
ly compel us to recognize failure instead of vic- 
tory. 

V. We must make faith and obedience the es- 
sential things in the recognition of Christian char- 
acter rather than knonledge and growth. The lat- 
ter are very important, but the former are indis- 
pensable. Knowledge means a great deal. But 
there are two things in the Apostle Peter’s great 
pyramid of Christian character that come before 
knowledge, viz., faith and courage. Nevertheless, 
knowledge is a most important element. of that 
character when we once have the foundation to 
which it may be added. If this is not so, then there 
is no proper place for all our colieges and univer- 
sities, for our books and newspapers, for our ser- 
mons and lectures. Disciples have shown their 
high appreciation of knowledge in the activity 
they have manifested with respect to education. 
Considering the age of their movement, they have 
done much to accentuate the importance of intel- 
lectual training, and it may be truthfully said that 
they are just now showing unusual interest in the 
building up of educational instituticns. All this is a 
valuable indication as to the growth of the move- 
ment in the future; for let it be distinctly under- 
stood that a worthy growth depends largely upon 
the proper use of educational facilities. 

At the same time, it is well to guard against a 
tendency which may become a great danger. It 
sometimes happens that our best opportunities be- 
come our final ruin. Knowledge, unwisely used, 
only gives power to propagate evil. When there 
is a conflict between head and heart there must al- 


96 THE DISCIPLES OF OCHRIST. 


ways be danger of a wreck of character. As re- 
gards Christianity, the heart has the regal posi- 
tion. Nothing can be made an assured success 
without the co-operation of the affections. Con- 
sequently, even faith itself has no potency in the 
building of religious character until it reaches the 
heart. We must believe with the whole heart, and 
then we may act; hence, faith and obedience stand 
in front of all legitimate development, so far as 
Christianity is concerned. 

Is Christian Unicn possible? In answering this 
question we at once call attention to our religious 
position. What is it we propose to do? I have 
already stated that it is our high aim to supple- 
ment the work of other reformations by filling up 
the chasm between the point where their work 
stopped and the Church of Christ as revealed in 
the New Testamert. In other words, we propose 
to restore the simple faith and practice of the 
primitive Christians. Disciples claim that the 
creed of the Church should be the same now as in 
the days of the Apostles. This was then a very 
simple but grandly comprehensive proposition. It 
was variously worded, but it always expressed sub- 
stantially that ‘‘Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the 
Living God.’ Around this proposition the primi- 
tive Christians gathered as sheep around a shep- 
herd, for it brought them at once into contact with 
the person of Christ rather than the cold _state- 
ments which have since been formulated in human 
symbols. Nothing short of a return to this primi- 
tive creed will bring together the broken frag- 
ments of Protestantism and restore peace and har- 
mony among the followers of Jesus. 

One of the chief difficulties in the way of Chris- 
tion Union is the fact that theologians do not prop- 
erly distinguish between faith and philosophy. 
They are not satisfied for us to believe the facts 
of religion; we must accept their explanation of 
these facts. Now, that Christianity has a true 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCHSSFUL. 97 


philosophy will not, I presume, be denied by any 
one. But it is altogether possible for people to be 
saved who have not the slightest idea of what that 
philosophy is. The faith of the Christian is not 
doctrinal, but personal. It is not belief in a dog- 
ma, but in a glorious Person—One who is “able to 
save to theuttermost all who come to God by Him.” 
Hence, the Christian faith is livmg, earnest, ac- 
tive; not a cold, formal abstraction. It has the 
power and influence of a personal incarnation; 
and, as such, impels its possessors to go forward 
in life’s conflicts end make a character in brave 
and glorious deeds. Philosophy enters upon the 
explanation of facts; and, while it is possible to 
reach a right conclusion in reference to all legiti- 
mate philosophical questions, it is nevertheless true 
that, in the sacred Scriptures, the “unity of the 
faith” is never made to rest upon any such mat- 
ters—faith in Christ and obedience to His com- 
mandments being the only test of fellowship in the 
Church of Christ. 

With this very evident distinction before us, is 
it not strange that theologians have insisted upon 
unity where unity is neither possible nor always 
desirable, and have been little concerned about the 
only unity we can ever have, or that would be, in 
any important sense, beneficial? I think it cannot 
successfully be denied that the grounds of alien- 
ation and division among the folluwers of Christ 
do not relate so much to faith, as to philosophy; 
not to facts, but the explanation of facts. To il- 
lustrate: Men can all unite in the belief of the 
Bible statement, that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
of the Living God.” But this will not satisfy the 
demands of philosophy. It starts a number of 
questions which may be important enough in them- 
selves, but should never be made tests of fellow- 
ship among Christians. It may be well enough for 
some minds to consider the manner in which the 
Divine nature was united to the human in Christ; 

7 


98 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


whether he was properly to be called one person or 
two; whether he should be regarded as one sub- 
stance, or of like substance with the Father; 
whether the Deity suffered at the crucifixion; in 
what way the sacrifice was necessary, etc. But 
these questions belong to philosophy, not to faith; 
and if they are to be settled before Christians can 
have fellowship one with another, then we may as 
well conclude at once that the prayer of the Savior 
for unity among His followers will never be an- 
swered; for it is simply certain that theologi 
will never agree concerning these philosophical 
questions. 

How much better it would be to discuss these 
questions, of need Vi but them pants 
to the great law of love, which requires unity only 
in aS ae to matters of faith! I think it = not 
require much ue. to =F that the fh aes 
Christendom largely have their origin in thi 
that do not pes enter into fhe Christian 
life. 

Human symbols all fail to perceive that the 
faith of the Gospel is not belief in some particular 
representation of Jesus, some definite formula 
which expresses a philosophical conception of 
him, but belief in Jesus himself—in him who was 
dead, but is alive for evermore. This the scholas- 
ticism of the mediaeval Church would not permit, 
but insisted upon a scientific formula, which, 
whether true or false, ought now te be rejected by 
every intelligent Christian; not because it is true 
or false, but because it is a theory. and as such, is 
a perversion of “the faith once for all delivered to 
the saints.” 

The modern Church has not given as much at- 
tention to speculations concerning Christ as the 
mediaeval Church cid, but it has not been by any 
means indifferent to philosophical questions. What 
the theologians at Nicae, Constantinople, Ephesus, 
and Chaleedon, regarded as the vital questions of 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 99 


Theology and Christology, our modern divines 
have been disposei to consider of secondary im- 
portance, while they have given the first place to 
the subjects of aticopolocry. Soteriology, and 
Eschatology. These subjects have furnished the 
weapons tor modern theological pugilism; and, as 
a comsequence, our symbolical literature is full of 
abstract statements concerning original sin, the 
doctrine of satisfaction, the resurrection and fimal 
state of the dead. But what the modern Church 
needs to understand is not that the Calvimistic An- 
thropology is superior to the Arminian, or the Ar- 
minian Soteriology superior to the Calvinistic, but 
that these are questions which belong to the schools 
and not to the Church, and should not therefore be 
allowed to become tests of any one’s faith. These 
are matters concerning which it may be all-impor- 
tant to have correct views, but they do not prop- 
erly belong to the question of the Church's creed, 
and hence should not be made barriers im the way 
of Christian union and communion; and until the- 
ologians shall abandon their fruitless discussions 
about things that do not legitimately belong to the 
Christian faith, it is impossible to hope for the 
“anity of the spirit in the bond of peace.” 

Now this being an admitted fact, the success of 
our movement must depend largely upon keeping 
faith and knowledge in their respective, legitimate 
places, so that they will not imterfere with each 
other, but rather co-operate with each other m all 
that relates to Christian development. Growth is 
the end to be sought no matter where we begin, for 
without growth life itself must ultimately com- 
pletely fail. But this growth cannot be realized 
without first reckoning with the heart. The Dis- 
ciple advocacy has been necessarily often a sort 
of intellectual combat. It has been largely educa- 
tional from the head point of view. Indeed, this 
has been so much the case that some have charged 
the a with holding to what is little more 


100 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


than a “head religion.” 

Now if this view of the matter had any just 
foundation in the past, there is much more 
danger that it should have a just foundation 
in our future advocacy. Just now we are 
beginning to realize an educated ministry. 
Our colleges and universities are doing a great 
work in this direcuon. But this intellectual de- 
velopment, as regards both our ministry and many 
of our members, must be made conducive to the 
growth of the spiritual life, rather than simply 
the intellectual life. This means that the Gospel 
must be faithfully preached, and not mere intel- 
lectual sermons mainly for the edification of those 
who have had academic training. It is still true, 
especially in our great cities, that the people, the 
unsaved masses, are practically alienated from all 
the Churches. In the large district of White 
Chapel in London, about ninety-eight per cent of 
the people never enter a Church. This may be an 
extreme case but there can be no doubt about the 
fact that the great masses of the people every- 
where, even in this favored land of ours, are still 
untouched by the Gospel of the Grace of God. Is 
not this an appalling fact? Does it not call for a 
different policy from that which has been used by 
religious propagandists ? 

Now, the Disciples ought to lead in a movement 
to rescue these masses from their indifference to 
the Gospel. But nothing can be done in this direc- 
tion until there is a just appreciation of the fact, 
that we cannot expect these masses to come into 
our fine Churches and be interested in the kind of 
worship and preaching which they will generally 
find in these Churches. There must be at least 
three important changes made in cur own methods 
before we can take the lead, as we ought to take 
it, in bringing the world to Christ: 

(1) We must not depend upon our Church ser- 
vices, whether evangelistic or otherwise, to reach 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 101 


the unconverted masses. We must go out after 
them. Like the Disciples at Jerusalem, when they 
were scattered abroad, we must go everywhere 
preaching the Word; and in this great work every 
Disciple of Jesus must take part, and not leave the 
whole matter in the hands of the ministry. Every 
Christian must be a preacher, in the New Testa- 
ment sense, and then we may hope for practical re- 
sults which will surprise even Disciples them- 
_ selves, who have generally made their evangelistic 
efforts eminently successful. 

(2) Our church services must he radically re- 
formed. At present many of these are handicap- 
ped by stereoperfunctity. They are tied up in 
regularity; they are stifled with propriety; they 
are chilled with formality; and they are dying of 
respectability ; the outcome of which is inefficiency, 
and often practical death to all religious progress. 
When the Apostles preached they delivered their 
message from a free platform. There was noth- 
ing stereotyped in their proclamation of the Gos- 
pel. Both Jesus and his Apostles courted inquiry, 
and whatever discussion ensued took place right on 
the spot. Now this is precisely one of the needs of 
the present hour. If at least one cervice, on every 
Lord’s day, should be thrown open to all legitimate 
inquiry, free to every attendant to discuss, within 
reasonable limits, any important Biblical question, 
a new interest wou!d at once be imparted to the 
proclamatien of the Gospel which would bring 
thousands to hear it, whose ears are now practieal- 
ly closed against it. 

(3) Let another service be held which shall be 
exclusively for worship and edification of Chris- 
tians. This service should usually be held in the 
morning and the other in the eveaing. But, after 
all, this is a matter of mere detail. The two ser- 
vices can be arranged according to local circum- 
stances. 

.The Disciple movement, when it was first be- 


102 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


gun, adopted some of the unfortunate stereotyped 
habits and customs of the denominations, and as 
time has gone on, they have growa more and more 
like these denominations, in the respects to which 
I am referring. They need now to break away 
from these habits and customs, or else by and by 
they will be bound hand and foot, with respect to 
the matter of meeting the needs of the great peo- 
ple, who are without God and without hope in the 
world. 

In order to reach this high premontory of ser- 
vice we must not forget, as has al-eady been sug- 
gested, that we should always distinguish between 
things that are essentially different. We must rec- 
ognize the difference between fact and philosophy, 
truth and opinion, faith and knowledge. 

Just here we touch one of the most prolific 
sources of our unhappy divisions. For instance: 
it is, unquestionably the duty of every Christian 
to acquire all the knowledge he possibly can; at the 
same time, this knowledge should never be allowed 
to usurp the proper place of faith. Faith and 
knowledge are alike important, but for very differ- 
ent reasons. Faith is essential to spiritual life; 
knowledge is essential to spiritual growth. One 
unites to Christ, the other develops in him; one is 
vital in the formation of Christian character, the 
other to the maintenance of Christian character 
after it has been formed. The danger is that faith 
without knowledge is apt to run into fanaticism, 
while knowledge without faith is almost sure to 
run into bigotry, if not into intolerant dogmatism. 
Indeed, it not infrequently happens that my neigh- 
bor has no patience with me simply because he 
knows more than I do. But he should at least re- 
member that all the knowledge in the universe, and 
especially if that knowledge is without faith, can- 
not save a single human soul. At any rate, we 
must not forget that, except we be converted and 
become as little children, we can in nowise enter 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 103 


the kingdom of Heaven. 

The great end to be accomplished in all our ser- 
vice is the salvation of the world. The Gospel 
message is not primarily intended as simply an ed- 
ueational message. Christ came te seek and to 
save the lost. The Gospel is first of all and above 
all, a message of salvation; and while its ultimate 
reach is educational in the very best sense, its first 
and great purpose is to reconcile men to God, to 
bring humanity and Deity into sympathetic touch 
and joyful fellowship; and no religious people can 
hope for any great success in the advocacy of their 
cause who do not make this great mission of the 
Gospel the main consideration in ali that they say 
and do. 

VI. We must make our Christian life corres- 
pond with our profession. Profession is well 
enough in its proper place, but life is the main 
thing. We must practice as well as preach, and 
we must practice what we preach. We must let 
our light shine, so that others szeing our good 
works may glorify our Father in Heaven. Notice 
the force of the word let. This means to loose, to 
give freedom to action, or manifestation. It as- 
sumes that we can control the light that is in us. 
We may refuse to let it go forth to convince the 
world. Many claim to have the truth, but they 
hold it within locked enclosures, cr else keep it 
from performing its proper function by placing 
upon it the heavy weight of wunfruitful lives. 
Truth must have a fair chance if it is to accom- 
plish its mission in the world. It is doubtless true 
that though crushed to earth it will rise again, 
but this crushing to earth often :etards its prog- 
ress for many generations in the eternal years that 
are hers. 

The Christian ideal is a perfect life, and we 
have before us in the person of our Divine Lord a 
perfect example. The Apostle Peter says that 
Christ “left us an example that we should follow 


104 THE DISCIPLES OF OHRIST. 


in His steps.” This statement represents the re- 
ligion of Christ as exactly in the Jine of the law 
which governs the moral life. Ethical writers are 
now nearly all agreed that the explanation of the 
moral life must be by an end or ideal. The Chris- 
tian’s ideal is Christ. He embodies in His great 
personality everything that is needful as a perfect 
example. We have only to look to Him and walk 
in His steps.. Consequently the Christian religion 
not only introduces a new commandment, but also 
a new standard by which the moral life is to be de- 
termined. The old ethical standard was a pre- 
cept; the new is an example. 

Having, then, set before us an example worthy 
of our imitation, there is the very highest incentive 
to bring our lives into harmony with our profes- 
sion. We have already seen that the profession of 
the Disciples is great. They claim to occupy a 
more favorable position than any other religious 
people; they must now make this claim good by 
accomplishing more than others. This is precise- 
ly the test by which Christ Himself was willing to 
be judged. He said, “If I do not the works of 
my Father, believe me not.” This was an honest 
statement with respect to a transcendent matter. 
He claimed to be ihe Christ, the Son of the living 
God, but le was perfectly willing to have this claim 
thoroughly tested by His works. If he did not 
the works of His Father He was willing to be call- 
ed an imposter, for He came to do His Father’s 
will, and consequently, if he was not found doing 
that will, He was quite prepared to abandon all 
claim to His high parentage. 

Now we claim to be Christ’s—His disciples. But 
if we do not His works, how can we make that 
claim good before the people? This is a practical 
age; and consequently we cannot expect the peo- 
ple to believe in us unless our works correspond, 
in a reasonable degree, to the claim which we make 
for ourselves. 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 105 


We certainly have some reason to be willing to 
subject ourselves to the test indicated. Our past 
history has not been an entire failure. Doubtless 
our work has been imperfect, as must be the case 
with all human effort. But surely the progress 
made by our people cannot be regarded with indif- 
ference while considering the relation between our 
religious position end the work we are doing. I 
have many facts and figures at hand that go to 
show the wonderfal progress the Disciples have 
made during the period since their movement was 
inaugurated; but [ must not trouble you with de- 
tails. It is sufficient to say that in less than one 
hundred years the little band which started the 
movement has grown to be a great people, number- 
ing nearly a million and a half, while in the mat- 
ter of the ratio of increase and the ratio of general 
activity, it is no longer doubtful that the Disciples 
are in the lead of all the religious forces of the 
United States. 

However, this fact must not excuse us from in- 
creasing our efforts to meet all the demands of our 
high religious position as well as the crying needs 
of this restless, turbulent age, wrich can only be 
harmonized and brought to the highest develop- 
ment through the sure, unadulterated religion of 
Christ. We must, therefore, show our faith by our 
works, and this fact imperatively demands of us 
sacrifices far beyond anything we have yet made. 
Are we willing to assume this responsibility? This 
is one of the great questions which are just now 
pressing on us for solution. 

VII. We must accept and proclaim the Gospel 
as the power of God unto salvation to every one 
that belizveth. Disciples have made this feature 
of their plea very prominent in their past history. 
Indeed, their phenomenal success is largely due to 
their insistence that in seeking ‘o save the lost 
nothing shall be substituted for the Gospel. But 
they are constantly exposed to the temptation of 


106 THE DISCIPLES OF OHRIST. 


using certain popular methods which practically 
vitiate the Gospel as the power of God unto salva- 
tion. It is to guard against this tendency, that I 
am insisting that the Gospel itself shall occupy its 
regal position as regards the conversion of the 
world. 

Looking carefully through the book of Acts, 
wherein is recorded the preaching and practice of 
the Apostles, we are at once struck with the sim- 
plicity and effectiveness of Apostolic evangelizing. 
It is evident that the Apostles relied exclusively 
upon the preaching of the Gospel as the means by 
which to induce conviction in the sinner. They 
recognized that the Holy Spirit’s work in conver- 
sion was through the truth presented, and they, 
therefore, brought that truth to bear upon the con- 
science so as to awaken the sinner and bring him 
into sympathy with their great message. They in 
no case resorted to modern expedients for this pur- 
pose. We do not hear of any special meetings, 
either for prayer cx anything else, in order to 
make the Gospel message effective.. I do not say 
that such meetings are wrong now, but I do not 
hesitate to say that they are often misleading. I 
think it cannot be disputed that the means resorted 
to by some modern evangelists are often calculated 
to turn the mind «way from the Gospel itself to 
something else, and consequently the Gospel mes- 
sage is practically nullified by expedients which are 
wholly human in their origin, and serve to weaken 
rather than strengthen the message which is deliv- 
ered. But in the primitive days of the Church 
there were just three things constantly kept before 
the people: First, that men are sinners; secondly, 
that Jesus is the Savior of sinners; and thirdly, 
how this Savior saves the sinners. 

The first and second points were distinctly made 
and forcibly urged upon the attention of the peo- 
ple, and we are told that when the people heard 
they cried out and asked what they must do. Then 


How TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCHSSFUL. 107 


the third point was pressed upon their attention 
with all the clearness and fervor which the Apos- 
tles could command. As already intimated, there 
were no inquiry meetings, no prayer meetings 
(such as we have in these days), in fact nothing 
whatever te turn the attention from the preached 
Gospel, or to suggest to the unconverted that there 
was any good reason why they should not at once 
believe in Jesus Christ and obey Him, instead of 
waiting for the effect of other inijuences, such as 
are provided by mvdern preachers. 

I do not wish to be understood as advocating a 
slavish following of the Apostolic methods. I 
believe in adapting our methods, as far as we can 

consistently do so, to the times in which we live. 
But Disciples mus: be careful lest in following the 
methods of denomiational Christendom, they 
practically pervert their own plea. I have no sort 
of faith in saving the world unless the simple Gos- 
pel of Jesus Christ is used for that purpose. There 
must be no additions and no subtractions. When 
this is made secure, any wise methods may be 
adopted in proclaiming that Gospel. 

VIII, Disciples must emphasize the right thing 
if they nish their Plea to be an eminent success. 
Is there not danger that they may measure their 
success by a false standard? Just now they seem 
to be in the period of money getting, and this mon- 
ey getting may ultimately react unfavorably upon 
spiritual development. 

No doubt money has a very decided influence in 
controlling the affairs of the world, but it is alto- 
gether possible to give it a fictitious value, espec- 
ially when estimating its value for good. It is not 
proposed at present to discuss the economic ques- 
tion which is clearly involved in the statement I 
have just made. But it may be well to consider 

. for a moment what seems to me to be a dangerous 
concession to the money power. I do not wish to 
be misunderstood ai this point. I do not question 


i 
108 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


that money has its right place, even in carrying on 
the work of the Lord; but we are very liable to 
fix our attention upon the wrong thing when we are 
estimating the real forces which enter into the 
progress of the world. 

In order that my meaning may be made clear, it 
will be necessary io give an example or two il- 
lustrating the tendency of the times. Let us sup- 
pose that some great enterprise is to be under- 
taken. In such a case what is usually the first con- 
sideration in the matter’ Is it not almost univer- 
sally the raoney question? Can a sufficient amount 
of money be raised to inaugurate the movement? 
If this cannot be done, or at least brought practi- 
cally in sight, then it is at once decided to abandon 
the enterprise until some more favorable opportu- 
nity offers itself. 

In view of this fact, it is a great pity that Chris- 
tian people cannot fix their minds on the right 
things- We need money, doubtless. In all I have 
said I do not undervalue it in its right place; but 
most of all we need brave, courageous, earnest 
men and women for the mighty conflicts of the fu- 
ture. These men and women must be conse- 
crated, fully given up to the work in which they 
are engaged. Mere hirelings will not do. Those 
who are seeking for easy places will not do. The 
young men who are coming out of our colleges and 
universities, who are asking for the first places 
even before they have had a single day of real ex- 
perience in the work to which they aspire, will not 
do. We want men who are not educated for sala- 
ries, but for labor. We want men who are asking 
for opportunities for service rather than for a com- 
fortable living. We have plenty of time-servers, 
plenty of worshipers of mammvon; but we want 
men who accept the teaching of Christ which says 
that we cannot serve God and manmon. In short, 
we want men and women who are willing to cut 
loose from ease, comfort, home, friends, country, 


, 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 109 


and even give up life itself if needs be, for the 
glorious privilege of working for the cause of 
Christ. We want men who, like Abraham of old, 
will leave everything and go into a land they know 
not of, simply because the voice of God calls them 
to duty. The work to be accomplished is altogeth- 
er too difficult to be undertaken by any who are 
chiefly influenced by money considerations. In such 
a work principle must be at the top or else success 
is sure to be at the bottom. Some have already 
sold their birthright for a mess of pottage. Not 
a few have bartered with the money-changers in 
our religious enterprises and invariably they have 
_ received thkeirreward. The halting, hesitating, half- 
hearted Christianity of the present day is largely 
the result of an unwise coalition with the money 
power. A man becomes the head manager of a 
great monopoly. Everything he iouches turns to 
money. He crushes out all opposition, and contin- 
ues to heap up his millions of gold. His sins rise 
to heaven as an abomination in the sight of God. 
But all this is easily made respectable by a few 
strokes of policy. He subscribes a large sum of 
money for the establishment of some educational, 
religious or social enterprise. That at once makes 
him even with men and gives him a “write up” 
in the daily newspapers. But such acts do not 
blind the eyes of God. He does not receive an 
unclean gift to compensate for unrighteousness. 
What is needed, and what I am pleading for, is 
a new reformation with respect to this very mat- 
ter of the right use of money, and also with respect 
to the right way of making money. We must be 
divorced from the worship of maimmon. We may 
use mammon, but we must serve Ged; and we must 
in all cases subordinate the formez to the interests 
of the latter. Our search, therefore, should be af- 
ter true men and women and not after gold. Our 
Klondike should be in the great centers of popula- 
tion, where human life is thickest. rather than in 


110 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


the ice fields of the frozen north. We must go 
where men and women grow, and seek to inspire 
them with the great work of saving souls, and then 
souls will be saved and the world will be won for 
Christ. 

This, then, is the consecration I mean. It is 
new when compared with the modern article which 
wears that name. Nevertheless, it is the same 
spirit which animated the early Christians, and 
which achieved such triumphs for the cross, during 
the first century of the Christian Church. What 
I claim is that the spirit of our modern Christian- 
ity, when taken as a whole, is far from being right- 
It emphasizes the wrong thing. It has the wrong 
perspective. It is too conventional, too formal; it 
lacks enthusiasm; i: fails to manifest that unsel- 
fish abandonment as regards worldly interests 
which is the very center and life of both Christ’s 
teaching and example. 

I do not wonder that such a man as the late Gen- 
eral Gordon refused to be identified with any of 
the Churches. He was deeply impressed with the 
life of Christ, anid tried to manifest that life in 
his own conduct; but he had little or no respect for 
the selfish, proud, worldly-minded spirit which he 
found in many of the Churches. No wonder that 
such noble souls should turn away from the specta- 
cle of our modern methods of money-getting for 
religious purposes, and our modern self-styled 
heroism wherever a man is willing to be crucified 
by a big salary and an overplus of comfortable en- 
vironment. 

I am drawing no fancy picture, but I am deal- 
ing with the Christian world as a whole. However, 
it is doubtless true that the Disciples of Christ are 
not entirely free from the general spirit which 
characterizes our modern Christianity. Per- 
haps they are not so fully given up to the tendency 
of the times as some of the cther religious bodies. 
But there can be no question about the fact that 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 111 


the leaven, to whieh I have called attention, is al- 
ready at work in some of their Churches. And it 
is almost too much to believe tha! their ministers 
are wholly free trom the corrupting secularism 
which has been sweeping over the land. Anyway, 
we need to emphasize the import:nce of the new 
spirit of consecration which I am insisting upon 
as essential to the great work of saving the world. 

As a religious people the Disciples began their 
movement among the poorer classes. They must 
now be careful or they will sell themselves for the 
very wealth which, in the beginning, had no influ- 
ence at all upon their success. While saying this I 
am truly thankful to be able to recognize the fact 
that some of the bestmen I know aremen who have 
been most successful in acquiring wealth, and are 
now equally successful in distributing this wealth 
for good. When wealth has been acquired by le- 
gitimate means, and is wisely used, it ought to be- 
come and generally will become a power for good. 
But all the same, ‘i can not be devied that Christ’s 
teaching everywhere warns against the seductive 
influence of riches; and it furthesmore distinctly 
emphasizes the very fact which I am now seeking 
to proclaim on the housetop with all the accentua- 
tion I can give, viz., that the cause of Christ never 
did and never nill depend upon the acquisition of 
money, though such acquisition way be used to 
great advantage if it is used wisely and well. In 
any case it is trae that the main thing in the 
Christ-life is the Christ-Spirit. The Beatitudes 
may be generalized as follows: 

(a) Life consists, not so much in outward con- 
ditions, as in an inward disposition. 

(b) The only way to reach right outward con- 
ditions, is by a right inward disosition. 

(ec) From the foregoing it follows that we can 
not have society what it ought to be until souls are 
right with God. 

Hence, I conclude that a right spirit, a conse- 


112 THE DISCIPLES OF OHRIST. 


crated spirit, a spirit of sympathy with all that is 
Christ-like; a spirit that is penetrated and inter- 
penetrated by a Divine passion for souls, is one of 
the prime needs of the present hour; and when we 
shall have that spirit in all our Churches and in 
all Christians, we need not have much fear about 
ultimately bringing the world to Christ. 

IX. Disciples inust inspire confidence in their 
Plea; and in order to do this, they must convince 
the people that what they preach will bring peace 
and rest to weary souls. Hence, they must make 
clear to these souls the conditions upon which 
peace and rest may be found. It is useless to hope 
for rest when there is no certainty in reference to 
our religious steps. Our present condition re- 
quires that there shall be infallibility somewhere; 
and if we do not locate it in the right place, we are 
sure to locate it, nevertheless. We cannot have 
peace without this; and so we keep pressing to- 
wards that which we suppose is absolutely certain. 
The struggle may sometimes be long and painful 
before we settle this important qaestion, but we 
cannot be satisfied until we persuade ourselves that 
it is settled, whether it is wisely settled or not. 

Now, there are at least four things for which 
men claim infallibility: 

(1) The Romanist believes in an infallible 
Pope. 

(2) The rationalist believes in an infallible rea- 
son or science. 

(3) The emotionalist believes in an infallible 
feeling, or what he sometimes calls “experience.” 

(4) The truly cnlightened Christian believes in 
an infallible Christ. 

If we examine carefully each of these, we may 
then determine which is best calculated to bring us 
the rest for which we sigh. While a falsehood, 
heartily believed, may partially satisfy our yearn- 
ing for certainty, this falsehood cannot, in other 
respects, meet the great needs of the soul. Hence, 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 113 


we must seek for that which meets all the condi- 
tions of our being and present state. 

The position of the Romanist is unquestionably 
strong. It is intensely dogmatic. It shuts out all 
room for questioning. It requires absolute submis- 
sion to the will of the Church. The individual 
conscience is practically committed to the guidance 
of those who claim to have it in charge. The man 
surrenders himself to the absolute authority which 
he has accepted to lead him. There is no right of 
appeal; in fact, no need for appeal, since the soul 
is supposed to be under infallible direction, and 
cannot therefore be led astray. 

This system is pronounced by Protestants des- 
potic. But it is strong, nevertheless. It also brings 
a degree of satisfaction to those who heartily ac- 
cept it. It, at least, marks out to its devotees the 
path of certainty. Its language is imperious, but 
this very fact does away with the doubting hesi- 
tancy, the trembling uncertainty of weaker faiths. 
In a word, this doctrine of infallibility is the main 
secret of Roman Catholic success. It gives com- 
pactness and vigor to all parts of the Roman sys- 
tem. 

Nor has the recent proclamation of the Pope’‘s 
infallibility been 1 mistake from a Catholic point 
of view, as was at the time predicted it would be 
by Protestants. Personality and ‘ndividuality are 
among the chief requirements of this age. Rapid- 
ity of action can no longer be ignored when rapid- 
ity of communication and travel is so prominent a 
feature of our times. - Hence, the council of the 
Vatican acted wisely in claiming for the head of 
the Catholic hierarchy infallibility. 

In opposition to this claim of the Romanist, the 
Rationalist sets up human reason, or an infallible 
science. But even if this was really infallible, it 
does not meet the wants of our religious nature. 
A purely intellectual system is a poor thing for the 
human heart. Mathematics is infailible, so far as 


114 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


that is concerned, but this does not bring rest to 
weary souls. But, as a matter of fact, the claim of 
the Rationalist will not stand, even from a purely 
intellectual point of view. Human reason is not 
infallible. It is constantly making mistakes. 
Walking wholly by sight will not answer even for 
this life, and breaks down altogether the moment 
we come to consider the future. Science is a strong 
enough word, but it is exceedingly weak in per- 
formance. It speaks with great assurance, but its 
deeds do not half fulfill its promises. Notwith- 
standing all it has accomplished, it is still true that 
we “know only in part” and “see through a glass 
darkly.” Faith only can lead us over the dark 
abyss which stretches out beyond the reach of hu- 
man reason. 

This is just what scientists, at last, are begin- 
ning to understand. ‘They are no jionger dogmatic 
and intolerant as they once were. They recognize 
the fact that many of the conclusions that they 
thought were infallibly correct must now be revis- 
ed in the light of further discovery. A few years 
ago these gentlemen were positive they knew very 
much about matter and its properties. To-day they 
speak modestly and with considerable reserve with 
respect to the whole realm of physical nature. 
What then can they say of the spiritual world? 
After all they are compelled to admit that the 
Christian’s guide is the only infallible help when 
we touch the great questions of human life and 
destiny. 

But just here we meet an opposite extreme. As 
reason cannot do everything, it is supposed to be 
unable to do anything. The emvtionalist refers 
everything to feeling. He speaks contemptuously 
of what he terms “head religion.” He believes 
only in “heart religion,’ though it is not always 
easy for Lim to tell precisely wnat he means by 
that. His religious moods are sure to be variable, 
for feeling is a very changing quantity. Sometimes 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 115 


he imagines himself in the third heaven; then, 
again, he is in the depths of despair. He rises and 
falls according to the ebb and flow of his emotions, 
This, of all religious life, is the most unsteady. 
It has not half the strength of Romanism, and 
none of the intellectual satisfaction of Rational- 
ism. It is simply a perversion of the whole idea 
of rest. It seeks for infallibility in that which 
brings constant disappointment. 

And yet, it is a most singular fact that what is 
called Evangelical Protestantism is largely under 
the influence of this system. We know that Prot- 
estants claim to take the Bible as their infallible 
rule of faith and practice, but do they always real- 
ly illustrate this in their lives? I fear that a faith- 
ful answer to this question would reveal a sad state 
of things. It is easy to find fault with Romanism 
for its blind devotion to the decrees of the Church; 
or with Rationalism, for its want of faith in the 
Bible; but it is another thing altogether to see to 
it that we ourselves are not practically guilty of 
the charge we make against other:. 

When we quote a “thus saith the Lord” for all 
‘we. do in religious matters, instead of human 
creeds or the testimeny of excited emotions, Prot- 
estantism will then be in a much better position to 
successfully meet both Romanisn: and Rational- 
ism than it now is. 

And this brings us to inquire what is the only 
true infailibility, and what is the only position 
which can bring rest to the straggling, weary 
world? 

I have already stated that the human soul re- 
quires infallibility, and we have seen how it seeks 
for this in the various systems tec which I have 
called attention. This desire foi infallibility is 
partially satisfied in the Word of God. The Di- 
vine Word is a sure testimony. It is an unerring 
guide in all that pertains to our religious life. 

on this infallibility must have personality. It 


116 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


is not enough to believe in something that is cer- 
tain. Abstractions do not bring rest. Theories 
are lifeless things. Philosophy is cold and heart- 
less. Even governments or laws do not meet our 
case. The Bible itself, as an end. would not be 
sufficient. So far as infallibility goes, it is all- 
assuring. It is everything we claim for it in that 
respect. Still, if it failed to bring us in contact 
with a Personal Savior, all its infallibility would 
be insufficient to meet our case. Our faith must 
be personal, not doctrinal, if we would find perfect 
security and peace. Hence, the Bible introduces 
us to an infallible Person, and asks us to trust in 
him. 

Now, there is only one other condition necessary 
in order that our safety and satisfaction may be 
complete. is he in every respect worthy of our 
entire confidence? 

Is he able to save? At this point we must be 
well assured. Hence, the infallible Word, which 
is our guide, declares that he is “able to save to 
the uttermost all who come to God by him.” 

Is he willing to save? There is nothing more 
certain than that he is. For this very purpose he 
came into the world. He came to seek and to save 
the lost. His very name, “Jesus,” tells of his mis- 
sion of love. 

Is he ready to save? Certainly we cannot doubt 
in this respect. He stands with outstretched arms 
and begs the heavy-laden to come to him for rest. 
“Now is the accepted time, now tke day of salva- 
tion.” 

Surely all the conditions necessary to perfect 
trust are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. As 
Lord, he has the right to rule over us, and we 
should willingly submit to his authority; as Jesus, 
he saves us from cur past sins by cleansing us in 
his precious blood; as the Christ, he constantly in- 
tercedes for us and gives us help for every day’s 
conflicts. And, now, if we heartily accept him in 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 117 


all these offices, we shall not only have infallible 
certainty in our religious life, but also that “‘peace 
which -passeth all understanding.” 

This last point is where Romanism completely 
breaks down. Even if we were to concede that 
the Pope is really infallible, as a person he is not 
worthy of our perfect trust in regard to salvation, 
is not able to save, is not anointed to save, and 
cannot, therefore, be ready to save. But Christi- 
anity is superior to other systems in that it per- 
fectly meets all the conditions necessary to salva- 
tion and the assurance of it. It gives us an in- 
fallible Person who is fully able, willing, and 
ready to accomplish for us everything that is 
promised. Hence, all we have to do is to believe, 
obey, and rejoice. 

Surely this plea of the Disciples of Christ is 
worthy of all acceptation. They turn away from 
all doubtful things and trust Jesus Christ, the Son 
of the living God, 2s the foundation of the Church 
and as the only hope of perishing souls. Aban- 
doning all humanisms and speculations, no matter 
how feasible these may appear, they give them- 
selves unreservedly to the guidance of him who is 
our infallible Phophet, Priest and King. 

X. Disciples must accept more fully the respon- 
sibilities resting upon them in view of the high 
claims which they make. If their plea is what 
they claim it to be, surely there are overwhelming 
reasons why they should make almost any kind of 
sacrifice to secure its universal acceptance. But 
what do they more than others? They are undoubt- 
edly sticklers for implicit obedience to some of the 
teaching of Christ. Let them now include all of 
his teaching, and especially that saying of his that 
“ft is more blessed to give than to receive.’’ While 
it is probable that, measured by their ability to 
give, the Disciples are as liberal with regard to 
money matters as any other religious people, I feel 
sure they should excell all others in the munifi- 


118 THE DISOIPLES OF CHRIST. 


cence of their benevolence. In ordinary business 
affairs we pay for things according to what we 
conceive to be their real value. Now if the Dis- 
ciples have a plea which is more valuable than 
that of any other religious people, ought they not 
to be willing to pay more for it, arte ought they 
not to be willing to make almost any sacrifice to se- 
cure its. general acceptance by the whole world? 
But this is not all 1 mean by making sacrifices. As 
already intimated, money-giving is all right in its 
proper place. But there is something vastly more 
valuable than money which Disciples can give in 
the great work of saving souls. They can give 
their time and energies. They can give their sym- 
pathies and prayers. They can give their man- 
hood and womanhood to the service of him who has 
bought them with his own precious blood. We 
have no zxight to withhold the best gifts. I think 
it often happens that we try to buy freedom from - 
personal secrifices with a few shillings in money. 
Some of us contribute liberally of our means for 
foreign missions, when really we ought to go as 
missionaries ourselves, or we ought at least to en- 
courage our children to do so. But the moment the 
great cause of missions makes a call upon us for 
personal consecration, we immediately withdraw 
into our selfishness, and continue to refuse to an- 
swer the call. Nevertheless, if the Disciple move- 
ment shall ever become a success, commensurate 
with its high claims, there ought to be ten thou- 
sand cries from all over the land every year, “send 
me into the ripe harvest fields, and I will do what 
I can to save perishing souls.” When Disciples 
shall everywhere be animated by this spirit, then 
and not until then, will they begin to realize the 
full meanmg of their Plea, as well as its triumph- 
ant victory over all opposing forces. 

I am afraid that some make the false plea that 
their faith will save them no matte: how little they 
give to the cause of Christ. They even quote what - 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCOHPSSFUL. 119 


Paul says about Abel’s faith to prove that the value 
of sacrifice is not in the value of the gift in itself 
that is offered, but in the faith which is behind the 
gift. But Paul does not say it was Abel’s faith 
that made his sacrifice more excellent than that of 
Cain; but what he does say is that it was Abel’s 
faith that prompted him to select the better offer- 
ing. It was by faith that he offered a more excel- 
lent sacrifice than Cain; the gift itself was the 
best he had—the tirstling of his fock. We must 
bring the best we have when we are making sacri- 
fices to God; and if we have robust faith, we will 
not be satisfied with an inferior gift; we will seek 
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and 
trust that other needed things will be added. 

XI. We must keep before the world and em- 
phasize the great fact that our plea is first of all 
an imperative demand for Christian liberty. We 
have already seen that the Disciple movement 
gives a true conception of man, and that this 
conception involves the freedom of man _ to 
chose for himself. Now the Disciples must make 
this conception a practical reality in their reli- 
gious development rather than a_ theoretical 
vision of what ought to be the case. Doubtless, 
in many respects, they have done this in their 
past history. They have persistently repudiated 
human creeds as bonds of Christian union and 
communion. They have earnestly contended 
for the rights of individual conscience in respect 
of all religious matters. But it may be questioned 
whether, in practice, they have always been 
true to this plea in every respect. It is probable 
that they have sometimes pressed their own 
convictions so decidedly upon the world as to 
practically ignore the convictions of others who 
differ with them. It is certainly a noble thing 
to feel that we are right in our own religious posi- 
tion, but it is at least a charitable thing to recog- 
nize the fact that others with whom we may differ 


120 THE DISCIPLES OF OHRIST. 


may just as sincerely realize that they are right. 

It was precisely at this point where the Camp- 
bells, in their day, broke with the religious world. 
In studying the Scriptures they came to certain 
conclusions, and feeling the importance of these 
conclusions they began to proclaim them to the 
world. But the wer!d was not ready to receive the 
new teacning, and consequently the Campbells 
were stigmatized as heretics, and doubtless would 
have shared the fate of the heretics of the fif- 
teenth and sixteenth centuries, if the days of the 
stake and fagot had not gone out of fashion. 

But Disciples are sometimes less tolerant with 
one another than they are with their religious 
neighbors. In contending for the faith once for 
all delivered to the saints, each Disciple regards 
the whole matter simply from his own individual 
standpoint, and as this standpoint frequently dif- 
‘fers in individual cases, it is easy to see how a 
continual conflict may arise among Disciples them- 
selves, unless they are willing to cultivate that 
charity which “thinketh no evil.” They think that 
the very first principle of fraternity is for all to 
adopt their exact point of view and echo precisely 
what they believe end teach. In short, they claim 
a whole world of liberty for themselves, but they 
seem utterly unwilling to grant any liberty at all 
to other people. ‘They set up a distinct standard 
and then require every man to adopt this as his 
rule of faith and practice, while all who do not 
strictly pronounce their shibboleths are practically 
ostracized or in some way discounted as members 
of our reformatory movement. 

Now, if those ardent defenders of the faith 
could come to understand that their procedure is 
precisely the very thing against which the Camp- 
bellian movement made its most emphatic protest, 
they would perhaps modify, to some extent at 
least, the dogmatic spirit which they show toward 
their brethren who do not exactly agree with them 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 121 


in all their contentions. I do not hesitate to say 
that without the liberty to which I am calling at- 
tention, the Disciple movement may become as sec- 
tarian as any of tke other religious movements 
that have bad a place in the history of the Church. 
But if Disciples will honestly recognize the lib- 
erty for which I am contending, it is then possible 
to make our movement not only comprehensive 
enough to embrace all who love and serve our Lord 
Jesus Christ, but slso make it possible to bring 
about such a union >f all of these as will assure the 
conversion of the world within the near future. 
The tendency of all religious movements is to re- 
produce inthemselves thevery thingsagainst which 
they protested in the beginning, and out of which 
protests these movements had their origin. We 
must therefore guard well the pomt of Christian 
liberty if we want to make our movement a great 
success. 

But I do not mean by Christian liberty what 
is practically nothing more or Jess than religious 
anarchy. When a man enters any kind of associa- 
tion where he is identified with other people, he 
cannot hope to hav2 everything his own way. Nor 
can he expect everyone to think precisely as he 
thinks. The view-point of sectarianism makes the 
thirteenth chapter cf first Corinthians quite unnec- 
cessary as a part of the New Testament teaching. 
Indeed, that chapter might be left out of our Bi- 
bles entirely withoutany lossto Christian character. 
But as I prefer the old-fashioned canon to that 
narrow bigotry which gives no place for Christian 
charity, I am not yet ready to surrender the beau- 
tiful teaching of love, even to please some of our 
most ardent defenders of what they conceive to be 
the cardinal principles of the Disciple movement. 
But however this may be, of one thing I am well 
assured, viz., in order to the best possible success 
for our Plea, we must contend earnestly for the 
liberty which was cne of the fundamental charac- 


122 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


teristics of the movement when it was inaugurated 
by the Campbells and those associated with them. 

XII. We must climinate from our advocacy the 
idea of meum and tuum—mine and yours. Not- 
withstanding the catholicity of our Plea, we have 
not always been able to make others see it in that 
light. Indeed, not a few have regarded us as 
intensely sectarian, because we have, in their judg- 
ment, sought.to monopolize what belongs to all 
Christians in common. 

Now it is possible that sometimes our advocacy 
has not been altogether wise. This, however, is 
just what ought to have been expected. Many of 
our ministers have had little or no education, and 
some of these doubtless have not always been as 
careful in their relations to other religious people 
as they might have been. Perhaps it is quite true 
that here and there our people have made the im- 
pression that what we are aiming at is to have all 
the religious denomimations unite with us, and con- 
sequently our religious plea is simply to absorb 
all other religious people in our own organization, 
and thus build up a great Church for ourselves. 

But this does not properly express our aim at 
all. It is easy to show that our religious position 
presents a common, reasonable and workable 
ground for Christian union, and that this is one of 
the reasons why it is still needed, as. Christian un- 
ion has not yet been attained. 

Now it may be well, just here, to notice an im- 
portant fact with respect to the rise and progress 
of certain religious movements which mark the de- 
velopment of our modern Christianity. The Apos- 
tasy occupied some time in reaching its climax. 
It had “begun to work” in the days of the Apostle 
Paul, but it was not fully developed until just be- 
fore the Reformation was started ty Wycliffe, Lu- 
ther, and those co-operating with them. 

The movement out of the Apostasy was also 
gradual and by different successive steps. Luther 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 123 


did a great work, but he did not accomplish every- 
thing. To a large extent he broke the power of 
the Pope to hold the individual conscience. He 
gave liberty to this conscience, and bade men think 
‘ and act for themseives in religious matters. 

Calvin also accomplished much in his day, and 
his work ’s still an importnat factor in the religion 
of the twentieth century. He emphasized the di- 
vine side in religious matters, and this was greatly 
needed in view of the fact that under the reign of 
Roman Catholicism, works of supererogation had 
come to take the place of faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

Wesley, while emphasizing the divine side in the 
plan of salvation, laid special stress also on the 
human side, insisting that we must show our faith 
by our works. 

All these religious movements were in the right 
direction, but each one was only a partial develop- 
ment, and when taken altogether they do not rep- 
resent a complete teturn to the primitive faith and 
practice. Each contributed something valuable 
without which the successive steps of progress 
could not have been made. In the historical evo- 
lution many things were gained by these special 
movements, but all that had been lost through the 
Apostasy was not entirely restored by them. 

This brings us to the platform proposed by the 
Disciples. They do not claim to have originated 
this platform. It is simply the result of evolution 
from medieval Christianity, through Luther, Cal- 
vin, Wesley and others, who all contributed to the 
development of the position which the Disciples 
claim to occupy. The Disciples kave built on the 
works of others largely, and they are glad to rec- 
ognize their indebtedness to the great reformers 
who went before them, and to the religious move- 
ments which these reformers reprezent. 

Now it will be seen, from these admissions, that 
a proper understanding of our historical attitude 


124 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


utterly precludes the idea that we should regard 
the religious positicn which we occupy as our own 
exclusive property. It belongs to all who will oc- 
cupy it, and it is ready for occupancy for all who 
will stand upon it. Indeed, I am satisfied that 
Christian union caa be effected more readily by al- 
lowing the religions denominations to practically 
do their cwn reforming than by asking them all 
to come over and join us. Let the platform which 
has been eliminated from the confused elements of 
Christendom stand out as free to all. Let it be 
the ideal ground for Christian unicn and the evan- 
gelization of the world. Let it be free from any 
sectarian spirit or cny cry of meum and tuum; and 
when Disciples shaJl be willing, with all other re- 
ligious people, to manifest this spirit, as well as 
echo this trumpet call for the rallying of God’s 
people, the time will not be long until the king- 
doms of this wor!d shall become the kingdom of 
our Lord and His Christ. 

Now to reach this grand consummation is pre- 
cisely the aim of the Disciple movement. Does 
this look like sectarianism or exclusiveness? Or 
does it indicate that it is our supreme desire that 
all shall join us? Whatever may eppear to be the 
case, from the denominational point of view, it can 
be affirmed with great emphasis, that the spirit of 
our movement, when it is fairly represented, is 
simply to secure the union of Christians upon a 
common platform where all can stand together and 
work for the glory of God and the salvation of 
men. 

It may be that some of our people do not always 
exemplify this high purpose in their pleading for 
Christian union, but it cannot be denied that the 
main trend of our movement has always been and 
is now toward an unselfish and ecxtholic platform 
which comprehendsevery consistent follower of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, our special work just 
now is to call the denominations to come up higher. 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 125 


They are for the most part at present located 
where their great ieaders left them; but these loca- 
tions represent only partial returns to Apostolic 
faith and practice. They need now to move up to 
the broad and higher platform to which we invite 
them. We ask for no exclusive honors or privi- 
leges for ourselves. We will gladly share, on equal 
terms, all the great advantages of the catholic po- 
sition for which we have so long and so earnestly 
contended. We most willingly recognize the fact 
that had it not been for such men as Luther, Cal- 
vin and Wesley, Alexander Campbell and his co- 
workers could never have done the work they did. 
At the same time, we earnestly believe that the 
Disciple movement has gained a higher position 
than that occupied by the reformat:ons which pre- 
ceded it. Historically considered, it presents the 
last and mest comprehensive platform that has yet 
been reached in the evolution of Christianity from 
the Apostasy. It is the ultimate Protestantism. 
Let us suppose a case which will illustrate what 
I mean. Suppose a general iscommanded to capture 
a strongly fortified citadel. He proceeds by par- 
allel approaches (to use the language of military 
men). His first point of attack is from a low po- 
sition which does little or no execution, but it 
serves to “employ ihe enemy” (to use military lan- 
guage again), until a more commanding posi- 
tion is reached. The general now pulls his guns 
up higher, and from this point is able to do bet- 
ter execution; but still he cannot command the cit- 
adel. He continues to move up higher and higher, 
until at last he reaches a position from which his 
guns can demolish the fortifications before him. 
Now this will help us to see how the platform 
has been erected on which the Disciples claim to 
stand. The attack was first made on the Apostasy 
from the somewhat low position occupied by Lu- + 
ther and his co-workers. Now, this low platform .; 
was essential to reaching the next one which was # 


126 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


occupied by Calvin and his co-workers. Then Wes- 
ley and his co-workers stood on the higher plat- 
form, while they erected one that was still higher. 
But even this last was not broad enough and high 
enough for all to stand together on and command 
the whole of the enemy’s fortifications. But these 
different movements made it possible for Alexan- 
der Campbell and his co-workers to present a plat- 
form high enough to reach the enemy’s works, and 
comprehensive encugh for every Christian to oc- 
cupy. 

Now what Disciples say is this: Is it not un- 
wisdom and poor tactics to still keep our guns 
down where Luther was, or where Calvin was, or 
even where Wesley was? These positions were 
well enough in their day, and they were all essen- 
tial in the evolution of a comprehensive platform. 
They were important steps in the right direction. 
They were parts of a great development of Prot- 
estantism toward a universal brotherhood of Chris- 
tians. 

Now, however, having reached the high position 
to which attention has been called, Disciples insist 
that the old positions should be abandoned, and 
that all should come up higher to a platform that 
is common ground, and therefore thoroughly ca- 
tholic; that is reasonable, and therefore in harmo- 
ny with the demands of the age in which we live; 
that is workable, ad therefore meets the practical 
conditions in the problem of taking the world for 
Christ. 

Will the Churches be equal to the earnest 
call made by the Disciples? Are they capable of 
rising up to this high platform of charity? What 
a magnificent testimony they have it in their power 
to give in support of their Christian development? 
Would not such a step, as the one ! have indicated, 
give a new and powerful impetus to the great work 
of saving souls? Such a course on the part of de- 
nominational Christendom would, in my judgment, 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 127 


do more to overcome the skepticism: of the present 
age and more to turn the world from Satan to God, 
than all the sermons and all the books that have 
been written within the last hundred years. In- 
deed, such a course would lead to the practical 
overthrow of the most determined opposition to the 
spread of the Gospel, and would, doubtless, usher 
in the glorious day when the kiagdoms of this 
world would become the kingdom «:f our Lord and 
his Christ. The question now is, Who is sufficient 
for these things? 

Will the world’s conversion be acomplished no 
matter what Disciples or others may do? I do not 
hesitate to answer this question in the affirmative. 
There is nothing about which I feel greater assur- 
ance than that the Gospel will be preached to the 
nations. This is the Divine intention, and the re- 
sult is just as sure as that the Word of God can- 
not fail. It is highly probable that some will con- 
tinue to reject the Gospel even when all obstacles 
are entirely removed. But this does not alter our 
duty as regards the work committed to our hands. 
Undoubtedly it is part of the obligations resting 
upon us to remove, as far as possible, the obstacles 
which are now in the way of success, so that the 
last excuse which hinders may be taken out of the 
way. But it is aimost certain that when every 
obstacle bas been :emoved, some will still hesitate 
to accept and some will definitely reject the Gos- 
pel message. However, I do not doubt that when 
the way is once made clear, when the Gospel is 
preached precisely as it was in the days of the 
Apostles, and when the union of God’s people has 
been assured, the success which will then follow 
will be at least somewhat commensurate with our 
most sanguine expectations. 

If we veed encouragement in such a hope as 
this we have only io look at what Las already been 
done. Take the last century as a promise of fu- 
ture results. Behold the great triumphs which 


128 THE DISOIPLES OF CHRIST. 


have been achieved! Never since the early days 
of Christianity have such victories for the Gospel 
been recorded. And it must be remembered that 
all this hasbeen accomplished under the discourag- 
ing conditions to which I have called attention. 
Now if so much has been done, right in the face 
of a false theory of conversion, wrong methods of 
preaching and work, and a divided and conse- 
quently enfeebled Christendom, what may we not 
expect when all these evils are removed, and the 
Churches shall be organized and their work con- 
ducted in harmony with New Testament teaching 
and example? f 

I am certainly not over-sanguine. I fully rec- 
ognize the difficulty of the problem which has to 
be solved. I know too well the weakness of hu- 
man nature and the power of evil to thwart the 
purposes of good. But notwithstanding all this, I 
have definite faith in the power of God and the 
promises of his word. It may be that the people 
of this generation will not recognize the weighty 
obligations which rest upon them. It may be that 
some will even laugh at my enthusiasm. But for 
all that, the work will be done. Disciples may not 
have any part in il; we may prove ourselves un- 
worthy of the great trust reposed in us; we may 
turn from the splendid opportunities which we 
have inherited; we may stubbornly refuse to enter 
in at the door which, in the providence of God, has 
been opened to us. But all this will only delay 
the accomplishment of God’s purpose in the world. 
The Gospel must be preached. It must be preached 
in its purity and simplicity. It must be carried in- 
to all the world and preached to every creature. 
And if we do not cheerfully accept our part in the 
work, I do not hesitate to say that the great privi- 
lege of doing so will finally be taken away from 
us, and the work will be committed to other hands. 

But I cannot believe that we will be so recreant 
to the holy trust. The people are waking up to 


HOW TO MAKE THE PLEA SUCCESSFUL. 129 


their responsibility all over the land. The stand- 
ard of reform has been raised in many parts of the 
earth, and the principles which the Disciples have 
advoeated are beginning to be received with favor 
almost everywhere, while much of the success of 
the Gospel, which marks the beginning of the 
twentieth century, is undoubtedly due largely to 
the influence of the Disciple movement upon the 
religious progress vi the age. Let us then be faith- 
ful to the great Plea we are making and the day 
is not far distant when we shall see a united 
Church and then soon will follow the conversion of 


' the world to Christ. 


However, before closing, it may be well to guard 
against a possible discouragemert which might 
present itself to the mind of the hearer. The Dis- 
ciple position may appear to be impossible from a 
practical point of view. I hope no one will accept 
this notion as a finality without an honest look at 
all the facts of the case. It appears to me that 
the times are propitious for just such a religious 
movement as that of the Disciples. There is rest- 
lessness everywhere throughout thd religious 
world. Men are feeling their way tc something bet- 
ter than the present state of things. No one is 
satisfied as matters now stand, though the outlook 
may be better, in some respects, than it ever was 


| before. Surely this is just the day to issue a call 
_to move up toward the mountain top. The fogs 
| are on the lowlands; there is clearness of vision up 
| higher. We may Lave some difficulty in climbing. 


No matter for that. Difficulty is really the meas- 


| ure of duty. The gréater the difficulty, the greater 
_is our responsibility. But however this may be, no 


one will cispute the need of an inspiring ideal, 
_if we wish to accomplish anything worth living 
for in the present world. The average Christian 
ideal, at the beginning of the twentieth century, 
_has nothing in it to incite to deeds of noble daring. 
Much of the Christian life of to-day is colorless 
i 


130 THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 


and tasteless. We want something that will ap- 
peal to the heroic in men and women, and then we 
shall begin to grow martyrs who will dare even 
die for perishing souls. My suggestions may, at 
least, furnish a text for sermons which will be- 
come a torch that will enlighten the world. 


All things are possible to faith that’s strong, 
While failure always folbws with the wrong. 
No easy road we'll find on duty’s way, 

But strength is promised for each toilsome day. 
Huge mountains on our pathway must be scaled, 
In climbing which some have already failed, 
But is it possible our work to do? 

If so, we all our efforts should renew, 

And by the most determined purpose make 

A great and final forward move to take 

The world for our imperial, sovereign Lord ; 
And thus to end all wars and sin’s discord. 
‘Truth’s banner then aloft will be unfurled, 

And waive in triumph o’er a conquered world. 


DATE DUE 


DEMCO 38-297 


wii 


